BuzzFeed - Jessica Testahttp://buzzfeed.com/jtes
BuzzFeed, Find Your New Favorite ThingenCopyright 2015 BuzzFeed, Inc.Tue, 03 Mar 2015 15:40:40 -0500editor@buzzfeed.com (http://www.buzzfeed.com/about)info@buzzfeed.com (http://www.buzzfeed.com/about)BuzzFeedhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/static/images/public/rss/logo.pnghttp://buzzfeed.com/jtes
Trans Inmate Sues Georgia Prisons Over Sexual Assault And Hormone Denialhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/trans-inmate-hormones-lawsuit?utm_term=4ldqpia
A transgender woman housed in a Georgia prison for men alleges that the state has denied her hormone treatments and failed to protect her from rape, assault, and harassment.

Ashley Diamond

SPLC

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit late Thursday night on behalf of Ashley Diamond, a 36-year-old transgender woman who says she's been denied hormone treatments and repeatedly sexually assaulted in Georgia prisons.

Diamond began her sentence in 2012, found guilty of charges including burglary and theft. According to the SPLC, Diamond had been taking female hormones since she was 17 — but denied "medically necessary care" in prison, Diamond has been "forced to transition back," the lawsuit says. She's grown facial hair, her breasts have disappeared, and her voice has dropped, the SPLC previously told BuzzFeed News.

According to the lawsuit, prison medical personnel have acknowledged Diamond's gender dysphoria diagnosis, but despite recommendations from a prison psychologist she be provided hormone therapy, more senior health administrators have refused to authorize the treatment. The lawsuit also alleges that prison officials have "disregarded Ms. Diamond's substantial vulnerability to sexual assault — a problem that is well-documented within GDC."

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, cites the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, listing as defendants the Georgia Department of Corrections' commissioner Brian Owens and medical director Sharon Lewis, along with two wardens, a deputy warden, and other prison officials.

A spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections said it "does not comment on active lawsuits." Georgia's attorney general's office, which represents state officials in legal matters, declined to comment.

In December, BuzzFeed News reported on another ongoing lawsuit filed by former Georgia inmate Zahara Green, a transgender woman who was put into protective custody and allegedly raped by another inmate — a man she had asked prison officials to protect her from.

Diamond — currently housed at Baldwin State Prison in Milledgeville, Georgia — has filed independent lawsuits against Georgia prison administrators before; in May 2014, the SPLC publicly demanded these administrators comply with her medical requests. But while attempting to communicate with the Georgia Department of Corrections on Diamond's behalf, the SPLC found itself "beating our head up against a wall," deputy legal director David Dinielli told BuzzFeed News in December.

GDC's internal policy, Dinielli said at the time, was to allow transgender inmates to maintain the level of transition at which they entered, mirroring the policy of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Instead, Dinielli said, Diamond "was told she needs to spend her time learning coping mechanisms." Diamond has attempted suicide and self-castration in prison, according to the lawsuit, and been diagnosed with PTSD.

The Supreme Court has held that prison officials can be held responsible for the mistreatment of transgender inmates if they do not take "reasonable measures" to prevent it. In recent years, many transgender inmates have filed suits against prison systems, citing not just medical issues, but prisons' failure to abide by the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which includes guidelines for safely housing transgender inmates.

BuzzFeed News has previously reported other details of Diamond's treatment. In two and a half years of incarceration, she was sexually abused at least seven times, Diamond has said. After one of these attacks, according to a sworn affidavit from a fellow inmate, a lieutenant "verbatim told Diamond it was her fault because she was transgender and accused her of sleeping with inmates and screaming rape at every camp she goes to."

Once, after Diamond filed a grievance over not being allowed to maintain her eyebrows, the warden at Valdosta State Prison told her there was "no medically indicated reason for you to adorn your face by manipulating your eyebrows. This is a male facility and your gender is male."

The lawsuit addresses this incident, adding that the same warden would refer to Diamond as a "'he-she thing' in front of [other] inmates and personnel." Administrators "barred Ms. Diamond from outwardly expressing her female gender identity," the complaint reads. "Ms. Diamond has been thrown into solitary confinement for 'pretending to be a woman,' had her female clothing confiscated, and repeatedly been told to look and act like a man."

Diamond's treatment inspired her to publish a series of 25-second YouTube videos — apparently filmed from prison on a smuggled device and titled "Memoirs of a Chain Gang Sissy" — six months ago. In the videos, Diamond, whose maximum release date is in 2023, describes "unbelievable sexual and physical abuse" and the "irrevocable changes" her body has gone through since ending her hormone treatments.

"The Georgia Department of Corrections says there's a zero tolerance for sexual violence. I seriously doubt that," she said in one clip. "My story is more than just about hormone care. It's about the way society is treating human beings as a whole when we allow this type of violence to take place."

On Friday, the SPLC released a single edited version of Diamond's recordings:

Read the SPLC's full complaint here:

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/trans-inmate-hormones-lawsuitFri, 20 Feb 2015 13:42:08 -0500<b>A transgender woman housed in a Georgia prison for men alleges that the state has denied her hormone treatments and failed to protect her from rape, assault, and harassment.</b>jtesnonadult<small>Ashley Diamond</small>nonadultThe Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit late Thursday night on behalf of Ashley Diamond, a 36-year-old transgender woman who says she's been denied hormone treatments and repeatedly sexually assaulted in Georgia prisons.
Diamond began her sentence in 2012, found guilty of charges including burglary and theft. According to the SPLC, Diamond had been taking female hormones since she was 17 — but denied "medically necessary care" in prison, Diamond has been "forced to transition back," the lawsuit says. She's grown facial hair, her breasts have disappeared, and her voice has dropped, the SPLC <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/georgia-prison-rape-zahara-green#.efZDgeEDo">previously told</a> BuzzFeed News.
According to the lawsuit, prison medical personnel have acknowledged Diamond's gender dysphoria diagnosis, but despite recommendations from a prison psychologist she be provided hormone therapy, more senior health administrators have refused to authorize the treatment. The lawsuit also alleges that prison officials have "disregarded Ms. Diamond's substantial vulnerability to sexual assault — a problem that is well-documented within GDC."
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, cites the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, listing as defendants the Georgia Department of Corrections' commissioner Brian Owens and medical director Sharon Lewis, along with two wardens, a deputy warden, and other prison officials.
A spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections said it "does not comment on active lawsuits." Georgia's attorney general's office, which represents state officials in legal matters, declined to comment.
In December, BuzzFeed News <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/georgia-prison-rape-zahara-green#.efZDgeEDo">reported</a> on another ongoing lawsuit filed by former Georgia inmate Zahara Green, a transgender woman who was put into protective custody and allegedly raped by another inmate — a man she had asked prison officials to protect her from.
Diamond — currently housed at Baldwin State Prison in Milledgeville, Georgia — has filed <a href="http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/news/local/rome-transgender-woman-files-suit-against-state-doc-from-prison/article_cfbf6a1a-3bd4-11e4-b581-001a4bcf6878.html">independent lawsuits</a> against Georgia prison administrators before; in May 2014, the SPLC <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-demands-georgia-department-of-corrections-provide-transgender-prisoner-with-n">publicly demanded</a> these administrators comply with her medical requests. But while attempting to communicate with the Georgia Department of Corrections on Diamond's behalf, the SPLC found itself "beating our head up against a wall," deputy legal director David Dinielli told BuzzFeed News in December.
GDC's internal policy, Dinielli said at the time, was to allow transgender inmates to maintain the level of transition at which they entered, mirroring the policy of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Instead, Dinielli said, Diamond "was told she needs to spend her time learning coping mechanisms." Diamond has attempted suicide and self-castration in prison, according to the lawsuit, and been diagnosed with PTSD.
The Supreme Court has held that prison officials can be held responsible for the mistreatment of transgender inmates if they do not take "reasonable measures" to prevent it. In recent years, many transgender inmates have filed suits against prison systems, citing not just medical issues, but prisons' failure to abide by the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which includes guidelines for safely housing transgender inmates.
BuzzFeed News has <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/georgia-prison-rape-zahara-green#.scKkP1Ykp">previously reported</a> other details of Diamond's treatment. In two and a half years of incarceration, she was sexually abused at least seven times, Diamond has said. After one of these attacks, according to a sworn affidavit from a fellow inmate, a lieutenant "verbatim told Diamond it was her fault because she was transgender and accused her of sleeping with inmates and screaming rape at every camp she goes to."
Once, after Diamond filed a grievance over not being allowed to maintain her eyebrows, the warden at Valdosta State Prison told her there was "no medically indicated reason for you to adorn your face by manipulating your eyebrows. This is a male facility and your gender is male."
The lawsuit addresses this incident, adding that the same warden would refer to Diamond as a "'he-she thing' in front of [other] inmates and personnel." Administrators "barred Ms. Diamond from outwardly expressing her female gender identity," the complaint reads. "Ms. Diamond has been thrown into solitary confinement for 'pretending to be a woman,' had her female clothing confiscated, and repeatedly been told to look and act like a man."
Diamond's treatment inspired her to publish a series of 25-second YouTube videos — apparently filmed from prison on a smuggled device and titled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8rWZuKito-XOubi5PtMhzg">"Memoirs of a Chain Gang Sissy"</a> — six months ago. In the videos, Diamond, whose maximum release date is in 2023, describes "unbelievable sexual and physical abuse" and the "irrevocable changes" her body has gone through since ending her hormone treatments.
"The Georgia Department of Corrections says there's a <a href="http://www.dcor.state.ga.us/Divisions/ExecutiveOperations/PREA.html">zero tolerance</a> for sexual violence. I seriously doubt that," she said in one clip. "My story is more than just about hormone care. It's about the way society is treating human beings as a whole when we allow this type of violence to take place."
On Friday, the SPLC released a single edited version of Diamond's recordings:nonadultnonadultnonadultRolling Stone Brings Back Photographer Accused Of Sexual Abusehttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/terry-richardson-is-back-again-probably-forever?utm_term=4ldqpia
Rolling Stone and Harper’s Bazaar both gave their February 2015 covers to the photographer long accused of sexual misconduct. It’s not just a comeback — it’s a statement.

Ray Tamarra/GC Images

Terry Richardson's eight-month exile from the covers of mainstream American magazines has come to an end, with his work fronting the February issues of both Rolling Stone and Harper's Bazaar.

The controversial photographer shot at least 10 mainstream U.S. covers in 2013, but work dried up in the spring of 2014, after the latest and loudest round of press surrounding his allegedly abusive behavior toward models.

"In light of numerous models' allegations of sexual abuse by the photographer Terry Richardson, Vogue, W, and T Magazine have decided not to condone his behavior by continuing to work with him," Sara Ziff, executive director of advocacy group Model's Alliance, told BuzzFeed News this week. "It is unfortunate that Harper's Bazaar and Rolling Stone do not hold themselves to the same standard."

Since 2010, more than a dozen women — some anonymously, some cryptically — have accused the fashion photographer of inappropriate behavior during photo shoots. Richardson has denied wrongdoing and hasn't been charged with a crime.

Models accused "Uncle Terry" of trying to make them feel comfortable before dropping a lewd request, such as asking them to pose nude before he unexpectedly stripped naked himself. One model accused him of turning her into a non-consensual "sex puppet." Asked about the allegations, a spokeswoman for Richardson declined to comment.

Ziff has previously spoken out against Richardson, telling HuffPost Live that she worked with him before and wouldn't again.

His behavior "goes beyond taking off your top," Ziff said at the time. "I have spoken with other models who have been in these situations, and he makes you feel like you're being a prude or you're somehow weird if you're not willing to just go with the flow because it's all cool. It's all fine."

Richardson's alleged conduct drew more attention with every woman who came forward, but it never lasted. Richardson continued shooting big magazine covers about once every other month — at the very least. But something changed during the first half of 2014, when sixmorewomenpubliclyalleged improper behavior from Richardson. The public outcry grew too large for his employers to ignore.

These events — unusual in a see-nothing, say-nothing industry — spurred New York magazine to examine in June whether Richardson was "an artist or predator." His alleged victims spoke out against the story, coming forward with new details of "revolting and humiliating" encounters with Richardson. TMZpublished leaked footage of a Richardson-directed Lady Gaga video described as "literally an ad for rape." One of Richardson's longtime employers, the shoe brand Aldo, cut ties with him, followed by the fashion house Roberto Cavalli. Many more brands remained silent, refusing to confirm on the record whether their relationships with Richardson would continue.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/terry-richardson-is-back-again-probably-foreverWed, 14 Jan 2015 15:58:59 -0500<b><i>Rolling Stone</i> and <i>Harper’s Bazaar</i> both gave their February 2015 covers to the photographer long accused of sexual misconduct.</b> It’s not just a comeback — it’s a statement.jtesnonadultnonadultTerry Richardson's eight-month exile from the covers of mainstream American magazines has come to an end, with his work fronting the February issues of both <i>Rolling Stone</i> and <i>Harper's Bazaar</i>.
The controversial photographer shot at least 10 mainstream U.S. covers in 2013, but work dried up in the spring of 2014, after the latest and loudest round of press surrounding his allegedly abusive behavior toward models.
"In light of numerous models' allegations of sexual abuse by the photographer Terry Richardson, <i>Vogue, W</i>, and <i>T Magazine</i> have decided not to condone his behavior by continuing to work with him," Sara Ziff, executive director of advocacy group Model's Alliance, told BuzzFeed News this week. "It is unfortunate that <i>Harper's Bazaar</i> and <i>Rolling Stone</i> do not hold themselves to the same standard."
Since 2010, <a href="http://www.styleite.com/features/a-horrifying-timeline-of-terry-richardson-allegations-from-trash-cans-to-tampon-tea/">more than a dozen women</a> — some anonymously, some cryptically — have accused the fashion photographer of inappropriate behavior during photo shoots. Richardson has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-richardson/response-to-rumors_b_4963974.html">denied wrongdoing</a> and hasn't been charged with a crime.
Models accused <a href="http://www.thegloss.com/2010/03/16/fashion/terry-richardson-is-really-creepy-one-models-story/">"Uncle Terry"</a> of trying to make them feel comfortable before dropping a lewd request, such as asking them to pose nude before he unexpectedly stripped naked himself. One model accused him of <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/one-model-responds-to-terry-richardsons-defense-of-himself">turning her into</a> a non-consensual <a href="http://www.thefrisky.com/2014-03-10/model-opens-up-on-reddit-about-that-time-terry-richardson-allegedly-came-on-her-face/">"sex puppet</a>." Asked about the allegations, a spokeswoman for Richardson declined to comment.
Ziff has previously spoken out against Richardson, telling <a href="http://www.styleite.com/news/sara-ziff-on-terry-richardson-he-makes-you-feel-like-youre-being-a-prude/"><i>HuffPost Live</i></a> that she worked with him before and wouldn't again.
His behavior "goes beyond taking off your top," Ziff said at the time. "I have spoken with other models who have been in these situations, and he makes you feel like you're being a prude or you're somehow weird if you're not willing to just go with the flow because it's all cool. It's all fine."
Richardson's alleged conduct drew more attention with every woman who came forward, but it never lasted. Richardson continued shooting big magazine covers about once every other month — at the very least. But something changed during the first half of 2014, when <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/27/model-alliance-terry-richardson_n_4865353.html">six</a> <a href="http://www.vocativ.com/underworld/sex/oh-god-whats-happening-close-personal-terry-richardson-model/">more</a> <a href="http://www.vocativ.com/underworld/sex/terry-richardsons-skype-chat-brainless-underage-model/">women</a> <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/vogue-terry-richardson-conde-nast#.rwdY2GvYW">publicly</a> <a href="http://jezebel.com/why-im-finally-speaking-up-about-what-terry-richardson-1591353414">alleged</a> improper behavior from Richardson. The public outcry grew too large for his employers to ignore.
In April, following one of the new allegations — which Richardson <a href="http://pagesix.com/2014/04/23/latest-terry-richardson-sex-scandal-was-a-hoax-expert/">hired</a> a social media expert to debunk — <i>Vogue</i> <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/vogue-terry-richardson-conde-nast">said publicly for the first time</a> it was no longer working with Richardson. Anna Wintour's tome paved the way for past employers like <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/rolling-stone-gq-and-other-magazines-silent-on-terry-richard#.lh2DkP6Dj">the <i>New York Times</i></a>, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/w-magazine-says-no-plans-to-work-with-terry-richardson#.umVqmYpqW"><i>W</i> magazine</a>, and <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/target-joins-vogue-in-distancing-itself-from-terry-richardso#.egAmrO0mY">Target</a> to also distance themselves from the photographer.
These events — unusual in a see-nothing, say-nothing industry — spurred <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/06/terry-richardson-interview.html"><i>New York</i> magazine</a> to examine in June whether Richardson was "an artist or predator." His alleged victims spoke out against the story, coming forward with new details of <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/one-model-responds-to-terry-richardsons-defense-of-himself#.tuklGorlD">"revolting and humiliating"</a> encounters with Richardson. <i>TMZ</i> <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2014/06/19/lady-gaga-music-video-sexual-assault-do-what-u-want/">published</a> leaked footage of a Richardson-directed Lady Gaga video described as <a href="http://pagesix.com/2014/06/19/lady-gaga-scrapped-r-kelly-duet-video-after-controversies/">"literally an ad for rape."</a> One of Richardson's longtime employers, the shoe brand Aldo, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/aldo-cuts-ties-with-terry-richardson">cut ties with him</a>, followed by the <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/buzzfeed-asks-25-fashion-companies-will-you-still-work-with#.xa9LajkLn">fashion house Roberto Cavalli</a>. Many more brands remained silent, refusing to confirm on the record whether their relationships with Richardson would continue.nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultRichardson's last mainstream U.S. cover of 2014 dropped <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/neil-patrick-harris-is-naked-on-the-new-cover-of-rolling-stone-20140507">in May</a>. Then he disappeared from the front of newsstands. His photos continued to appear inside of magazines, of course, through his <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2850655/Valentino-fire-unveiling-campaign-featuring-controversial-photographer-Terry-Richardson.html">pre-existing ad campaigns</a> for fashion houses and the occasional <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/charli-xcx-up-all-night-with-2014s-breakout-pop-star-20141212">multi-page feature</a> — he was still on contract at <i>Harper's Bazaar</i>, for one. He also shot a <a href="http://jezebel.com/playboy-set-to-release-an-issue-shot-entirely-by-terry-1603685809">special issue of <i>Playboy</i></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_ogle/status/523748216827678721">several</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/them_mag/status/501223046586179584">international</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYh8F4732J8">projects</a>. But readers of magazines like <i>GQ</i> suddenly no longer felt his white-background, heavy-flash omnipresence.
This might have been a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/18-moments-that-led-to-bill-cosbys-stunning-downfall#.yuzeVqye8">Bill Cosby moment</a> — a point of no return, in which the allegations become part of the national conversation, and companies aligned with the famous man have to distance themselves en masse. It wasn't.
This month, <i>Rolling Stone</i> and <i>Harper's Bazaar</i> ended Richardson's dry spell, tapping him to photograph Nicki Minaj and Miranda Kerr, respectively, for their February covers.
<i>Rolling Stone</i>, echoing itself from <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/rolling-stone-gq-and-other-magazines-silent-on-terry-richard">April</a>, declined to comment on why it continues to work with Richardson despite the years of allegations. <i>Harper's Bazaar</i>, echoing itself from April and <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/terry-richardson-harpers-bazaar#.pwvj17njW">June</a>, ignored BuzzFeed News' inquiry.
The photographer has certainly suffered professional setbacks over the past year — <i>Vogue's</i> public semi-reproach and the loss of Aldo among them. But with the new <i>Rolling Stone</i> and <i>Harper's Bazaar</i> covers, "Uncle Terry" appears to be back in the magazine industry's good graces.nonadultThis Charity Sends Christmas Cards To Prison Rape Survivorshttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/this-charity-sends-christmas-cards-to-prison-rape-survivors?utm_term=4ldqpia
Every year, a group of men and women who were sexually assaulted while incarcerated gather to write holiday cards to victims still behind bars.

In the months after Joe Booth was raped by another inmate in a California correctional facility, he recalls, he wrote somewhere between 20 and 50 letters to law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and advocacy groups, looking for some kind of legal avenue to bring charges against his attacker.

The only helpful response he received wasn't from a lawyer or government official, he said — it was an anonymous handwritten Christmas card from a stranger.

"Right at that point I was literally just ready to give up," Booth told BuzzFeed News. "I can't tell you what it meant to me at the time. …

"When you're locked up, and you're sitting in a cell by yourself, and people are telling you that you're everything but a child of god, and nobody is saying anything good about you, it just really helps to know that you're not alone."

Booth — who was serving a three-year sentence for attempted armed robbery and making criminal threats — received the card from Just Detention International, one of the human rights groups he'd written to for help, through a program for prison rape survivors called Words of Hope. Last year, Just Detention International said it mailed out 10,000 notes.

After he received his Christmas card, Booth began exchanging letters with staffers at the organization. He told them about his attack — how guards placed him, an openly gay inmate, in a cell with an inmate who had a "documented history of assaulting gay cellmates." They told him about Farmer v. Brennan, a landmark Supreme Court case for LGBT inmates who fall victim to sexual assault in prison. Booth was eventually able to bring a minor charge against his attacker, he said.

When he was released from prison in 2010, Booth joined the Just Detention International council of prison rape survivors. And on Dec. 13, he filled his truck with gas and once again made the 112-mile drive from Bakersfield, California, to Los Angeles to participate in the organization's annual card-writing day, joining staff and volunteers, but also formerly incarcerated people like him.

"I see the same people one time every year, and it's always at these card writings," he said.

It's become a therapeutic reunion of sorts, said Nicole Wolfe, another former inmate in the California correctional system.

"You talk about domestic violence or sexual violence or rape in prison, and you're talking to someone who's had that happen to them," Wolfe said. At this year's event, she saw two women she did time with.

In prison, Wolfe was assaulted by a nurse and correctional lieutenant, she said. A former attorney, she connected with Just Detention International in 2000 and consulted the organization on the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which Congress passed in 2003 but was not implemented until 2012. Wolfe testified before a joint Senate Committee and held webinars on prison sexual assault. And when Just Detention International began its holiday card program in 2010, she was among the first recipients.

"Mail is a wonderful thing in prison," said Wolfe, who used toothpaste to tape her cards to her prison wall. "You don't just get one tiny card. You get this big package of cards. It's indescribable."

"These people don't judge you. You just feel so much love," she said. "My family totally abandoned me, and it meant so much to get so much nonjudgmental love."

Wolfe said she served "17 years, 2 months and 6 days" for the attempted murder of her allegedly abusive husband. After her release in early December 2013, Wolfe was living in a homeless shelter — where she still received holiday cards that year. Now she's employed as a communications staffer at an organization for homeless women and children in California's Inland Empire.

While most of Just Detention International's card-writing day is devoted to transcribing messages received through its website, Wolfe and Booth said they also write their own personalized messages. When he talks about what he writes to victims still behind bars, Booth begins crying.

"I just want people to know they made it past the hard part. They survived a very, very hard time. They don't have to stand alone," he said. "It's hard enough just being deprived of being able to turn on the light or pick up a fork or a can of soda — things that I now take so for granted. It's hard enough being in that environment with the amount of violence that is in there."

When Wolfe writes cards, her messages usually say something like "Don't give up hope. It's not over," she said. "I've been where you've been, and you have more strength than you believe."

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/this-charity-sends-christmas-cards-to-prison-rape-survivorsTue, 23 Dec 2014 14:46:56 -0500<b>Every year, a group of men and women who were sexually assaulted while incarcerated gather to write holiday cards to victims still behind bars.</b>jtesnonadult<small>Joe Booth, left, at Just Detention International's annual holiday card-writing day.</small>nonadultIn the months after Joe Booth was raped by another inmate in a California correctional facility, he recalls, he wrote somewhere between 20 and 50 letters to law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and advocacy groups, looking for some kind of legal avenue to bring charges against his attacker.
The only helpful response he received wasn't from a lawyer or government official, he said — it was an anonymous handwritten Christmas card from a stranger.
"Right at that point I was literally just ready to give up," Booth told BuzzFeed News. "I can't tell you what it meant to me at the time. …
"When you're locked up, and you're sitting in a cell by yourself, and people are telling you that you're everything but a child of god, and nobody is saying anything good about you, it just really helps to know that you're not alone."
Booth — who was serving a three-year sentence for attempted armed robbery and making criminal threats — received the card from Just Detention International, one of the human rights groups he'd written to for help, through a program for prison rape survivors called <a href="http://www.justdetention.org/en/words-of-hope.aspx">Words of Hope</a>. Last year, Just Detention International said it mailed out 10,000 notes.
After he received his Christmas card, Booth began exchanging letters with staffers at the organization. He told them <a href="http://www.justdetention.org/en/survivortestimony/stories/joe_ca.aspx">about his attack</a> — how guards placed him, an openly gay inmate, in a cell with an inmate who had a "documented history of assaulting gay cellmates." They told him about <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-7247.ZS.html"><i>Farmer v. Brennan</i></a>, a landmark Supreme Court case for LGBT inmates who fall victim to sexual assault in prison. Booth was eventually able to bring a minor charge against his attacker, he said.
When he was released from prison in 2010, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2SlzE_IajY">Booth</a> joined the Just Detention International council of prison rape survivors. And on Dec. 13, he filled his truck with gas and once again made the 112-mile drive from Bakersfield, California, to Los Angeles to participate in the organization's annual card-writing day, joining staff and volunteers, but also formerly incarcerated people like him.
"I see the same people one time every year, and it's always at these card writings," he said.
It's become a therapeutic reunion of sorts, said Nicole Wolfe, another former inmate in the California correctional system.
"You talk about domestic violence or sexual violence or rape in prison, and you're talking to someone who's had that happen to them," Wolfe said. At this year's event, she saw two women she did time with.nonadultnonadultIn prison, Wolfe was assaulted by <a href="http://www.justdetention.org/en/survivortestimony/stories/nicole_ca.aspx/">a nurse and correctional lieutenant</a>, she said. A former attorney, she connected with Just Detention International in 2000 and consulted the organization on the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which Congress passed in 2003 but was not implemented until 2012. Wolfe testified before a joint Senate Committee and held webinars on prison sexual assault. And when Just Detention International began its holiday card program in 2010, she was among the first recipients.
"Mail is a wonderful thing in prison," said Wolfe, who used toothpaste to tape her cards to her prison wall. "You don't just get one tiny card. You get this big package of cards. It's indescribable."
"These people don't judge you. You just feel so much love," she said. "My family totally abandoned me, and it meant so much to get so much nonjudgmental love."
Wolfe said she served "17 years, 2 months and 6 days" for the attempted murder of her allegedly abusive husband. After her release in early December 2013, Wolfe was living in a homeless shelter — where she still received holiday cards that year. Now she's employed as a communications staffer at an organization for homeless women and children in California's Inland Empire.
While most of Just Detention International's card-writing day is devoted to transcribing messages received through its website, Wolfe and Booth said they also write their own personalized messages. When he talks about what he writes to victims still behind bars, Booth begins crying.
"I just want people to know they made it past the hard part. They survived a very, very hard time. They don't have to stand alone," he said. "It's hard enough just being deprived of being able to turn on the light or pick up a fork or a can of soda — things that I now take so for granted. It's hard enough being in that environment with the amount of violence that is in there."
When Wolfe writes cards, her messages usually say something like "Don't give up hope. It's not over," she said. "I've been where you've been, and you have more strength than you believe."nonadultJustine Sacco Says She "Really Suffered" After Tweeting AIDS Jokehttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/justine-sacco-says-she-really-suffered-after-tweeting-aids-j?utm_term=4ldqpia
In an upcoming book — So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed — the disgraced public relations executive gives her first interview since #HasJustineLandedYet.

But next spring, with the publication of Jon Ronson's So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Sacco is breaking that silence, telling the author she has "really suffered."

"I had a great career and I loved my job and it was taken away from me and there was a lot of glory in that," Sacco told Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test and The Men Who Stare at Goats.

The new book is being billed as an exploration of "famous shamees, shamers, and bystanders who have been affected." BuzzFeed News was sent an uncorrected advance proof earlier this week, though Ronson has also publicly read a passage from the Justine Sacco chapter, which, in the book, follows interviews with writer Jonah Lehrer and Michael Moynihan, the reporter who exposed Lehrer's fabrication.

Sacco was a public relations executive at IAC until December 2013, when, en route to a family vacation in South Africa, she tweeted, "Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding! I'm white." One of Sacco's followers tipped off Valleywag, which published the tweet along with the headline: "And Now, a Funny Holiday Joke from IAC's PR Boss."

It was a fairly quiet Friday afternoon, and Sacco's tweet mutated into a full-blown news story; three hours later, BuzzFeed published a story on the internet fury, including the trending #HasJustineLandedYet. When she did land, Sacco deleted the tweet and her account. The next day, IAC announced it had "parted ways" with her.

"It was incredibly traumatic. You don't sleep. You wake up in the middle of the night forgetting where you are. All of a sudden you don't know what you're supposed to do. You've got no schedule. You've got no" — she paused — "purpose. I'm thirty years old. I had a great career. If I don't have a plan, if I don't start making steps to reclaim my identity and remind myself of who I am on a daily basis, then I might lose myself. I'm single. So it's not like I can date, because we google everyone we might date. So that's been taken away from me too. How am I going to meet people? What are they going to think of me?"

After her firing, Sacco volunteered with a nonprofit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ronson writes. In June, she was hired to help Hot or Not's relaunch, though the position was only temporary, according to the book. But Ronson spoke to Sacco before all that — on the day she was supposed to clean out her desk at IAC. Then, she said, she couldn't "fully grasp the misconception that's happening around the world."

"They've taken my name and my picture, and have created this Justine Sacco thats not me and have labeled this person a racist. I have this fear that if I were in a car accident tomorrow and lost my memory and came back and googled myself, that would be my new reality."

Sacco also defended her joke, saying she thought "there was no way that anyone could possibly think it was a literal statement."

"It was a joke about a dire situation that does exist in post-apartheid South Africa that we don't pay attention to. It was completely outrageous commentary on the disproportionate AIDS statistics. Unfortunately, I am not a character on South Park or a comedian, so I had no business commenting on the epidemic in such a politically incorrect manner on a public platform. To put it simply, I wasn't trying to raise awareness of AIDS, or piss off the world, or ruin my life. Living in America puts us in a bit of a bubble when it comes to what is going on in the third world. I was making fun of that bubble."

Ronson is sympathetic. And his reaction to Sacco reveals the book's core hand-wringing:

A life had been ruined. What was it for: just some social media drama? I think our natural disposition as humans is to plod along until we get old and stop. But with social media, we've created a stage for constant artificial high drama. Every day a new person emerges as a magnificent hero or a sickening villain. It's all very sweeping, and not the way we actually are as people. What rush was overpowering us at times like this? What were we getting out of it?

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/justine-sacco-says-she-really-suffered-after-tweeting-aids-jFri, 19 Dec 2014 17:33:53 -0500<b>In an upcoming book — <i><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594487138/?tag=buzz0f-20">So You've Been Publicly Shamed</a></i> — the disgraced public relations executive gives her first interview since #HasJustineLandedYet.</b>jtesnonadultnonadultOther than a brief <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/22/world/sacco-offensive-tweet/">public apology</a> last year, Justine Sacco has never publicly spoken about the tweet that <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/this-is-how-a-womans-offensive-tweet-became-the-worlds-top-s#.ifGKGrOKo">took over</a> the internet, lost her a job, and turned her into a punch line — one deployed <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/12/politics-naughty-nice-list-113689.html#.VJSLP8ABXE">even today</a>, 365 <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/12/the_year_of_outrage_2014_everything_you_were_angry_about_on_social_media.html">outrage cycles</a> later.
But next spring, with the publication of Jon Ronson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594487138/?tag=buzz0f-20"><i>So You've Been Publicly Shamed</i></a>, Sacco is breaking that silence, telling the author she has "really suffered."
"I had a great career and I loved my job and it was taken away from me and there was a lot of glory in that," Sacco told Ronson, author of <i>The Psychopath Test</i> and <i>The Men Who Stare at Goats</i>.
The new book is being billed as an exploration of "famous shamees, shamers, and bystanders who have been affected."&nbsp;BuzzFeed News was sent an uncorrected advance proof earlier this week, though Ronson has also <a href="https://acrossthepondtv.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/im-new-here-4/">publicly read</a> a passage from the Justine Sacco chapter, which, in the book, follows interviews with writer Jonah Lehrer and Michael Moynihan, the reporter who <a href="http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/107779/jonah-lehrers-deceptions">exposed</a> Lehrer's fabrication.
Sacco was a public relations executive at IAC until December 2013, when, en route to a family vacation in South Africa, she tweeted, "Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding! I'm white." One of Sacco's followers tipped off <i>Valleywag</i>, which published the tweet along with the headline: <a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/and-now-a-funny-holiday-joke-from-iacs-pr-boss-1487284969">"And Now, a Funny Holiday Joke from IAC's PR Boss."</a>
It was a fairly quiet Friday afternoon, and Sacco's tweet mutated into a full-blown news story; three hours later, BuzzFeed published a story on the <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/internet-uproar-erupts-after-pr-woman-for-media-firm-tweets#.rfM879185">internet fury</a>, including the trending #HasJustineLandedYet. When she did land, Sacco deleted the tweet and her account. The next day, IAC announced it had "parted ways" with her.
"I cried out my body weight in the first twenty-four hours," Sacco told Ronson.
<blockquote>"It was incredibly traumatic. You don't sleep. You wake up in the middle of the night forgetting where you are. All of a sudden you don't know what you're supposed to do. You've got no schedule. You've got no" — she paused — "purpose. I'm thirty years old. I had a great career. If I don't have a plan, if I don't start making steps to reclaim my identity and remind myself of who I am on a daily basis, then I might lose myself. I'm single. So it's not like I can date, because we google everyone we might date. So that's been taken away from me too. How am I going to meet people? What are they going to think of me?"</blockquote>
After her firing, Sacco volunteered with a nonprofit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ronson writes. In June, she was <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/peterlauria/hot-or-not-returns-to-an-overheated-online-dating-market#.ptNB0A7By">hired</a> to help Hot or Not's relaunch, though the position was only temporary, according to the book. But Ronson spoke to Sacco before all that — on the day she was supposed to clean out her desk at IAC. Then, she said, she couldn't "fully grasp the misconception that's happening around the world."
<blockquote>"They've taken my name and my picture, and have created this Justine Sacco thats not me and have labeled this person a racist. I have this fear that if I were in a car accident tomorrow and lost my memory and came back and googled myself, that would be my new reality."</blockquote>
Sacco also defended her joke, saying she thought "there was no way that anyone could possibly think it was a literal statement."
<blockquote>"It was a joke about a dire situation that does exist in post-apartheid South Africa that we don't pay attention to. It was completely outrageous commentary on the disproportionate AIDS statistics. Unfortunately, I am not a character on <i>South Park</i> or a comedian, so I had no business commenting on the epidemic in such a politically incorrect manner on a public platform. To put it simply, I wasn't trying to raise awareness of AIDS, or piss off the world, or ruin my life. Living in America puts us in a bit of a bubble when it comes to what is going on in the third world. I was making fun of that bubble."</blockquote>
Ronson is sympathetic. And his reaction to Sacco reveals the book's core hand-wringing:
<blockquote>A life had been ruined. What was it for: just some social media drama? I think our natural disposition as humans is to plod along until we get old and stop. But with social media, we've created a stage for constant artificial high drama. Every day a new person emerges as a magnificent hero or a sickening villain. It's all very sweeping, and not the way we actually are as people. What rush was overpowering us at times like this? What were we getting out of it?</blockquote>
<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594487138/?tag=buzz0f-20">So You've Been Publicly Shamed</a></i> is on sale in the U.S. on March 31, 2015, from Riverhead Books.nonadultIs A Georgia Prison Trying To Cover Up The Rape Of A Trans Woman?http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/georgia-prison-rape-zahara-green?utm_term=4ldqpia
The day before Zahara Green began her prison bid, a medical official with the Georgia Department of Corrections wrote just one comment on her health summary form: “Possible gender issues with housing.”

Green was 23, a convicted shoplifter, and a transgender woman about to be housed with men. Two months later, on a separate medical form, a doctor would note her gender identity disorder — then the widely accepted psychological diagnosis for transgender people — along with her bra size. She would be prescribed hormones to maintain the transition she said she had begun six years earlier. All this to say, by the time she entered general population at eastern Georgia’s Rogers State Prison in July 2012, Green’s identity as a woman was well-documented, despite the “Sex: M” stamped at the top of her papers.

Yet wardens at Rogers would claim they had no “personal knowledge” that Green “claimed to be transgender” until late August 2012. This discrepancy between her medical records and her treatment by officials had an immediate effect. On her first day at Rogers, she said, she was stripped naked and searched alongside gawking men in the “shakedown shack” — a humiliation that feels far away to Green now, after everything else that’s happened. When she was assigned a bed, inmates trotted past her as if she were on display. One of these men allegedly approached her that day with an offer of protection, only to soon after threaten her for sexual favors. Two months later, he allegedly raped her.

By Green's account, this assault was not an accident. Between her first day at Rogers and her alleged rape, Green had met with the warden in person, then allegedly wrote to the warden and deputy warden of security for help, then finally asked to be put in protective custody — only to find herself assigned to share her protective custody cell with the man she feared.

These events make up the bulk of a lawsuit Green filed earlier this year, which BuzzFeed News first reported on in September. This is not the first suit of its kind: Transgender inmates all over the country have long alleged systemic mistreatment. But the extent to which this particular prison neglected widely accepted procedures for housing transgender inmates, allegedly ignored Green's pleas for help, and then misplaced evidence after her alleged attack — all detailed here for the first time — reveal just how little circumstances have changed for transgender inmates today, 11 years after the passage of a federal anti-prison rape law that was supposed to help protect them.

Green believes the prison could have prevented her rape. But nine months after her release, she still wonders: Why, exactly, didn’t they?

Photograph by Matt Odom for BuzzFeed News

Before entering general population at Rogers State Prison, even while awaiting trial in jail, Green said she had always been segregated — either because of a lack of bed space, she was told, or because prison officials didn’t want to put her with men or with women.

Darryl Ricard, the inmate who approached her on that first day, walked around “like he owned the place,” Green recalled. Ricard told her he was the highest-ranking gang member on the compound, affiliated with Chicago Vice Lords. Ricard also said he was looking for a friend, Green later told an investigator.

“Someone like you is going to need someone to protect you in a place like this,” she remembers Ricard saying.

“I was just like, OK, whatever,” she said. She said she didn’t fully grasp the meaning of Ricard’s approach until a gay inmate in her dorm told her that Ricard thought he was her husband.

Soon Ricard began demanding sexual favors, and when Green resisted, he “just went through the roof,” according to the interview and a written statement she later gave to the investigator. Ricard allegedly confronted Green with a shank and a belt with a lock on it, threw her against the wall of a bathroom, and told her that if she left, “it will be a blood bath,” she said.

Green wrote her mother, vaguely but forcefully telling her she was in trouble: “I have control of the situation for now but once I don’t, I might be seriously hurt or killed. I am very scared but I am playing my part,” she wrote.

Her mother called the prison — it’s only at this point that Brad Hooks and John Brown, the warden and deputy warden of security at Rogers, respectively, said they learned Green “claimed to be transgender.” Hooks had Green escorted to his office. But when he asked her what was going on, she didn’t tell him anything.

The warden seemed “mad” and “aggressive,” Green explained. Ricard’s gang also had secret cell phones, Green said, and Ricard allegedly told her he could send her photo out to other prisons if she talked and somehow got transferred.

Hooks sent Green back to general population.

Days later, Green said, she wrote to the warden. She still didn’t disclose the situation with Ricard, but she allegedly told Hooks that she believed the prison was dangerous for transgender and out gay inmates — she said cell door locks were not secure and allowed prisoners to move around units freely. Hooks later said in a court filing that he has “no specific recollection” of receiving such a letter.

Meanwhile, Ricard’s behavior allegedly escalated. He forced Green to perform oral sex four times over the next few weeks, she estimated. At one point he allegedly gave Green a cloth ring to wear. Green would later call this behavior “crazy psycho stuff,” telling an investigator that “one thing I made sure I did not do was confuse him into thinking that I had feelings for him.”

This same investigator later asked Ricard if his “relationship” with Green flourished “out of protection ... or did it flourish out of affection?" Ricard responded that he felt "emotional attachment" to Green. He said every night they had “some kind of intercourse” in his bed, where she would stay until 3:30 or 4 a.m. He said “officers have witnessed this.”

Photograph by Matt Odom for BuzzFeed News

Two years later, Green can’t quite finish retelling her story. She’s sitting in the poster-lined conference room of a social justice advocacy group called Project South, completely still — arms crossed over her cream button-up blouse, legs crossed over her black slacks, and shoes she doesn’t even really like.

The first thing people working on Green’s case will tell you is that she’s a little quiet and a little shy. But on this October afternoon, it isn’t timidness keeping Green’s eyes glued to the oversize wood table in front of her — to the dark spots where stray tears have stained her legal pad. As the events leading to her alleged rape come into focus, Green’s silence is crushing.

“The reason I get so emotional when I talk about that is because everyone always asks, ‘Why didn't you just flat-out tell them?’ What I want people to understand, though, is it's not that simple. It's not that easy when you’re going through what you’re going through. And you have this person threatening you and telling you—” she cuts herself off. “I’m sorry. You’re in fear, so you don’t know how to do it.”

Green’s first real attempt to escape Ricard came on Sept. 17, she said, when she allegedly wrote to Brown, the deputy warden of security, and finally named Ricard, disclosing the oral sex and what she later described as “exploitation of fear.” Brown, like the warden, has denied receiving this letter.

Later that week, Green saw another opportunity to escape Ricard without the possibility of retaliation. In her dorm, several inmates had told a group of out gay and transgender inmates that they needed to leave. So Green requested protective custody, citing fear for her life. What Green didn’t know was that Ricard had also put in a request, claiming he had been forced out with the gay inmates because he “stood up” for three of them, according to prison records obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Under Georgia Department of Corrections policies, an inmate can be placed in protective custody if staff determine it’s “necessary for the [inmate’s] own protection” or if the inmate requests it. If the latter, the inmate must submit his or her request in writing with a explanation. A classification committee interviews the inmate at a hearing, and the warden then reviews the request.

Green and Ricard entered protective custody early on Sept. 21, 2012. Walking to her new cell, Green said she felt like her dangerous relationship with Ricard was “finally over.” Then the guard dropped her off. Green said the door was closing behind her before she could process the situation.

Ricard was there, assigned to the bottom bunk.

“I could have said something while the door was shut, but ... [the guards] don’t have a key with them to just open it,” she said. “No, they have to get on their walkie-talkie to call someone to open the door, and you never know how long they're going to take. And that gives him the opportunity to do something to me.”

Ricard allegedly took that opportunity nearly 24 hours later, after Green finally told him she didn’t want to be around him anymore, she said. He threatened her with a razor blade, telling her, “I’m tired of you playing games with me,” and, “I got you in a room with me. This is the only time we gonna really be able to do something without nobody being around,” Green later told an investigator.

Ricard then allegedly raped her, orally first, then anally.

“I knew he was gonna do it, and I just thought that I’m gonna just lay here and just let him get done,” Green told the investigator. She decided she would write a note to the guards about Ricard forcing her to have sex and stick it through the door when he wasn’t paying attention; she would write it while pretending to read a magazine; she would act like everything was fine.

In his report on the incident, an officer said he found the note around 1 a.m. on Sept. 22.

When he realized what was happening, “Ricard jumped up and went berserk,” Green said. “He had the razor blade in his hand. And I’m sitting here like, ‘No no no no, I'm just trying to leave out of here.’”

For about two minutes, she said, while the officer called the sergeant, Green jumped from side to side, dodging Ricard and the blade. When the sergeant arrived, he ordered Ricard to drop the razor and put his hands through the door flap. Ricard initially refused, then surrendered while the sergeant called the captain, according to the sergeant’s report.

Green and Ricard were separated. Nine hours later, Green had a sexual assault examination. Seminal fluid was found in her rectum, though the sample did not yield identifiable sperm.

Ricard refused to give a statement that night. But a few days later, during his interview with the investigator, Ricard said he had the razor blade because he was “contemplating cutting myself.” He didn’t deny the intercourse with Green, but he initially said Green set him up “because she was angry with me,” then suggested she had wanted to be able to sue the state.

“She said that if I helped her get her surgery she would take care of me when she got out,” he said. “She even asked me to cut her in the forehead and I was like, ‘No!’”

Ricard said he thought Green was joking, because she was a “dominatrix, she-queen. She's into rough sex and shit like that.”

In November, BuzzFeed News asked the Georgia Department of Corrections for permission to interview Ricard. A spokeswoman said the department doesn’t “allow interviews with inmates that gives them a platform to discuss their case or crime.” Ricard did not reply to two letters asking for comment. The lawyer who defended Ricard in 2004 no longer practices in Georgia and declined to answer questions about Ricard.

In any kind of administrative segregation, the inmate’s cell must be checked — and the check must be documented — by guards every 30 minutes, according to Georgia Department of Corrections policies.

The prison has not turned over the checklists for the 24 hours Ricard and Green were in the cell together. In a deposition, Green’s lawyer, Mario Williams, asked why the checklists were missing.

“Well, I can’t confirm that they’re missing,” a prison official said. “All I can tell you, we checked here at Rogers and we didn’t find them.”

In a report on Green’s case, former longtime Federal Bureau of Prisons official Joe Gunja — brought on by Williams to be an expert witness — said the missing checklists “make no sense.”

And then there’s the double bunking — something only allowed in protective custody under two conditions, according to department policy: an emergency situation, or with a recommendation from the classification committee. The warden must approve that recommendation. In this case, Hooks would have recommended bunking a minimum-security nonviolent offender, Green, with a medium-security sexually violent offender, Ricard.

“It is my professional opinion the risk to [Green] was more than obvious,” Gunja wrote. That opinion is supported by a 2007 study out of California, which found that transgender inmates in male facilities are 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted. Green’s attorney has also enlisted an author of this study, Valerie Jenness, as an expert witness.

“By the time Green entered Rogers State Prison, in July 2012, the serious risk of rape to transgender women locked up in detention facilities was widely recognized by and among the corrections community,” Jenness wrote in her report.

The Georgia Department of Corrections declined to comment for this story, citing the pending litigation. The prison’sresponses to Green’s legal complaints don’t offer any insight into the assignment decision, though the defendants deny being deliberately indifferent or depriving Green of her rights.

In a July 2014 report, the Southern Center for Human Rights described the protective custody system at Georgia prisons as “inadequate, leaving vulnerable prisoners to fend for themselves.”

The report also cites ongoing problem with locks “left broken for years” at Georgia prisons. Green says she wrote to the warden about broken locks after their first meeting. Green’s attorney argues the insecure locks facilitated Ricard’s alleged assaults in the weeks leading up to the protective custody incident.

Joel Reid, an inmate housed with Green in the same dorm prior to the alleged attack, confirmed these conditions at Rogers in a recent declaration to the court.

“I witnessed inmates routinely walking around unauthorized at night to other inmates’ dorm rooms — after head count — due to the locks on our doors being unsecure (not locked) and thus permitting unauthorized roaming of inmates,” Reid said.

Photograph by Matt Odom for BuzzFeed News

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/georgia-prison-rape-zahara-greenTue, 16 Dec 2014 22:02:24 -0500<b>Zahara Green's recent lawsuit against prison officials may reveal how the state is failing to protect transgender people — or even recognize them.</b>jtesnonadult
<p>The day before Zahara Green began her prison bid, a medical official with the Georgia Department of Corrections wrote just one comment on her health summary form: <i>&ldquo;Possible gender issues with housing.&rdquo;</i></p><p>Green was 23, a convicted shoplifter, and a transgender woman about to be housed with men. Two months later, on a separate medical form, a doctor would note her gender identity disorder &mdash; then the widely accepted psychological diagnosis for transgender people &mdash; along with her bra size. She would be prescribed hormones to maintain the transition she said she had begun six years earlier. All this to say, by the time she entered general population at eastern Georgia&rsquo;s Rogers State Prison in July 2012, Green&rsquo;s identity as a woman was well-documented, despite the &ldquo;Sex: M&rdquo; stamped at the top of her papers.</p><p>Yet wardens at Rogers would claim they had no &ldquo;personal knowledge&rdquo; that Green &ldquo;claimed to be transgender&rdquo; until late August 2012. This discrepancy between her medical records and her treatment by officials had an immediate effect. On her first day at Rogers, she said, she was stripped naked and searched alongside gawking men in the &ldquo;shakedown shack&rdquo; &mdash; a humiliation that feels far away to Green now, after everything else that&rsquo;s happened. When she was assigned a bed, inmates trotted past her as if she were on display. One of these men allegedly approached her that day with an offer of protection, only to soon after threaten her for sexual favors. Two months later, he <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/a-transgender-woman-says-she-was-locked-in-a-cell-with-her-r">allegedly raped</a> her.</p><p>By Green&#39;s account, this assault was not an accident. Between her first day at Rogers and her alleged rape, Green had met with the warden in person, then allegedly wrote to the warden and deputy warden of security for help, then finally asked to be put in protective custody &mdash; only to find herself assigned to share her protective custody cell with the man she feared.</p><p>These events make up the bulk of a lawsuit Green filed earlier this year, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/a-transgender-woman-says-she-was-locked-in-a-cell-with-her-r">which BuzzFeed News first reported</a> on in September. This is not the first suit of its kind: Transgender inmates all over the country have long alleged systemic mistreatment. But the extent to which this particular prison neglected widely accepted procedures for housing transgender inmates, allegedly ignored Green&#39;s pleas for help, and then misplaced evidence after her alleged attack &mdash; all detailed here for the first time &mdash; reveal just how little circumstances have changed for transgender inmates today, 11 years after the passage of a federal anti-prison rape law that was supposed to help <a href="http://transequality.org/Resources/PREA_July2012.pdf">protect them.</a></p><p>Green believes the prison could have prevented her rape. But nine months after her release, she still wonders: Why, exactly, didn&rsquo;t they?</p>
<p><img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-12/15/17/enhanced/webdr10/longform-original-26150-1418682200-27.jpg" width="1600" height="511" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Photograph by Matt Odom for BuzzFeed News</small></p>
<p>Before entering general population at Rogers State Prison, even while awaiting trial in jail, Green said she had always been segregated &mdash; either because of a lack of bed space, she was told, or because prison officials didn&rsquo;t want to put her with men or with women.</p><p>At Rogers, a facility with nearly 1,500 beds, she felt like she had been left <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/a-transgender-woman-says-she-was-locked-in-a-cell-with-her-r">&ldquo;out with the wolves.&rdquo;</a></p><p>Darryl Ricard, the inmate who approached her on that first day, walked around &ldquo;like he owned the place,&rdquo; Green recalled. Ricard told her he was the highest-ranking gang member on the compound, affiliated with Chicago Vice Lords. Ricard also said he was looking for a friend, Green later told an investigator.</p><p>&ldquo;Someone like you is going to need someone to protect you in a place like this,&rdquo; she remembers Ricard saying.</p><p>&ldquo;I was just like, <i>OK, whatever</i>,&rdquo; she said. She said she didn&rsquo;t fully grasp the meaning of Ricard&rsquo;s approach until a gay inmate in her dorm told her that Ricard thought he was her husband.</p><p>Soon Ricard began demanding sexual favors, and when Green resisted, he &ldquo;just went through the roof,&rdquo; according to the interview and a written statement she later gave to the investigator. Ricard allegedly confronted Green with a shank and a belt with a lock on it, threw her against the wall of a bathroom, and told her that if she left, &ldquo;it will be a blood bath,&rdquo; she said.</p><p>Green wrote her mother, vaguely but forcefully telling her she was in trouble: &ldquo;I have control of the situation for now but once I don&rsquo;t, I might be seriously hurt or killed. I am very scared but I am playing my part,&rdquo; she wrote.</p><p>Her mother called the prison &mdash; it&rsquo;s only at this point that Brad Hooks and John Brown, the warden and deputy warden of security at Rogers, respectively, said they learned Green <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375150-doc-second-answer.html#document/p5/a191921">&ldquo;claimed to be transgender.&rdquo;</a> Hooks had Green escorted to his office. But when he asked her what was going on, she didn&rsquo;t tell him anything.</p><p>The warden seemed &ldquo;mad&rdquo; and &ldquo;aggressive,&rdquo; Green explained. Ricard&rsquo;s gang also had secret cell phones, Green said, and Ricard allegedly told her he could send her photo out to other prisons if she talked and somehow got transferred.</p><p>Hooks sent Green back to general population.</p><p>Days later, Green said, she wrote to the warden. She still didn&rsquo;t disclose the situation with Ricard, but she allegedly told Hooks that she believed the prison was dangerous for transgender and out gay inmates &mdash; she said cell door locks were not secure and allowed prisoners to move around units freely. Hooks later said in a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375149-doc-first-answer.html#document/p4/a191767">court filing</a> that he has &ldquo;no specific recollection&rdquo; of receiving such a letter.</p><p>Meanwhile, Ricard&rsquo;s behavior allegedly escalated. He forced Green to perform oral sex four times over the next few weeks, she estimated. At one point he allegedly gave Green a cloth ring to wear. Green would later call this behavior &ldquo;crazy psycho stuff,&rdquo; telling an investigator that &ldquo;one thing I made sure I did not do was confuse him into thinking that I had feelings for him.&rdquo;</p><p>This same investigator later asked Ricard if his &ldquo;relationship&rdquo; with Green flourished &ldquo;out of protection ... or did it flourish out of affection?" Ricard responded that he felt "emotional attachment" to Green. He said every night they had &ldquo;some kind of intercourse&rdquo; in his bed, where she would stay until 3:30 or 4 a.m. He said &ldquo;officers have witnessed this.&rdquo;</p>
<p><img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-12/15/17/enhanced/webdr10/longform-original-23697-1418682239-29.jpg" width="1600" height="1076" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Photograph by Matt Odom for BuzzFeed News</small></p>
<p>Two years later, Green can&rsquo;t quite finish retelling her story. She&rsquo;s sitting in the poster-lined conference room of a social justice advocacy group called Project South, completely still &mdash; arms crossed over her cream button-up blouse, legs crossed over her black slacks, and shoes she doesn&rsquo;t even really like.</p><p>The first thing people working on Green&rsquo;s case will tell you is that she&rsquo;s a little quiet and a little shy. But on this October afternoon, it isn&rsquo;t timidness keeping Green&rsquo;s eyes glued to the oversize wood table in front of her &mdash; to the dark spots where stray tears have stained her legal pad. As the events leading to her alleged rape come into focus, Green&rsquo;s silence is crushing.</p><p>&ldquo;The reason I get so emotional when I talk about that is because everyone always asks, &lsquo;Why didn&#39;t you just flat-out tell them?&rsquo; What I want people to understand, though, is it&#39;s not that simple. It&#39;s not that easy when you&rsquo;re going through what you&rsquo;re going through. And you have this person threatening you and telling you&mdash;&rdquo; she cuts herself off. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry. You&rsquo;re in fear, so you don&rsquo;t know how to do it.&rdquo;</p><p>Green&rsquo;s first real attempt to escape Ricard came on Sept. 17, she said, when she allegedly wrote to Brown, the deputy warden of security, and finally named Ricard, disclosing the oral sex and what she later described as &ldquo;exploitation of fear.&rdquo; Brown, like the warden, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375149-doc-first-answer.html#document/p5/a191779">has denied</a> receiving this letter.</p><p>Later that week, Green saw another opportunity to escape Ricard without the possibility of retaliation. In her dorm, several inmates had told a group of out gay and transgender inmates that they needed to leave. So Green requested protective custody, citing fear for her life. What Green didn&rsquo;t know was that Ricard had also put in a request, claiming he had been forced out with the gay inmates because he &ldquo;stood up&rdquo; for three of them, according to prison records obtained by BuzzFeed News.</p><p>Under Georgia Department of Corrections <a href="http://www.asca.net/system/assets/attachments/5595/GA%20IIB0901.SOP.pdf?1363974081">policies</a>, an inmate can be placed in protective custody if staff determine it&rsquo;s &ldquo;necessary for the [inmate&rsquo;s] own protection&rdquo; or if the inmate requests it. If the latter, the inmate must submit his or her request in writing with a explanation. A classification committee interviews the inmate at a hearing, and the warden then reviews the request.</p><p>Green and Ricard entered protective custody early on Sept. 21, 2012. Walking to her new cell, Green said she felt like her dangerous relationship with Ricard was &ldquo;finally over.&rdquo; Then the guard dropped her off. Green said the door was closing behind her before she could process the situation.</p><p>Ricard was there, assigned to the bottom bunk.</p><p>&ldquo;I could have said something while the door was shut, but ... [the guards] don&rsquo;t have a key with them to just open it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;No, they have to get on their walkie-talkie to call someone to open the door, and you never know how long they&#39;re going to take. And that gives him the opportunity to do something to me.&rdquo;</p><p>Ricard allegedly took that opportunity nearly 24 hours later, after Green finally told him she didn&rsquo;t want to be around him anymore, she said. He threatened her with a razor blade, telling her, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired of you playing games with me,&rdquo; and, &ldquo;I got you in a room with me. This is the only time we gonna really be able to do something without nobody being around,&rdquo; Green later told an investigator.</p><p>Ricard then allegedly raped her, orally first, then anally.</p><p>&ldquo;I knew he was gonna do it, and I just thought that I&rsquo;m gonna just lay here and just let him get done,&rdquo; Green told the investigator. She decided she would write a note to the guards about Ricard forcing her to have sex and stick it through the door when he wasn&rsquo;t paying attention; she would write it while pretending to read a magazine; she would act like everything was fine.</p><p>In his report on the incident, an officer said <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375129-green-filing-re-deposition.html#document/p25/a191742">he found the note</a> around 1 a.m. on Sept. 22.</p><p>When he realized what was happening, &ldquo;Ricard jumped up and went berserk,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;He had the razor blade in his hand. And I&rsquo;m sitting here like, &lsquo;No no no no, I&#39;m just trying to leave out of here.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>For about two minutes, she said, while the officer called the sergeant, Green jumped from side to side, dodging Ricard and the blade. When the sergeant arrived, he ordered Ricard to drop the razor and put his hands through the door flap. Ricard initially refused, then surrendered while the sergeant called the captain, according to the sergeant&rsquo;s report.</p><p>Green and Ricard were separated. Nine hours later, Green had a sexual assault examination. Seminal fluid was found in her rectum, though the sample did not yield identifiable sperm.</p><p>Ricard refused to give a statement that night. But a few days later, during his interview with the investigator, Ricard said he had the razor blade because he was &ldquo;contemplating cutting myself.&rdquo; He didn&rsquo;t deny the intercourse with Green, but he initially said Green set him up &ldquo;because she was angry with me,&rdquo; then suggested she had wanted to be able to sue the state.</p><p>&ldquo;She said that if I helped her get her surgery she would take care of me when she got out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She even asked me to cut her in the forehead and I was like, &lsquo;No&#33;&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>Ricard said he thought Green was joking, because she was a &ldquo;dominatrix, she-queen. She&#39;s into rough sex and shit like that.&rdquo;</p><p>In November, BuzzFeed News asked the Georgia Department of Corrections for permission to interview Ricard. A spokeswoman said the department doesn&rsquo;t &ldquo;allow interviews with inmates that gives them a platform to discuss their case or crime.&rdquo; Ricard did not reply to two letters asking for comment. The lawyer who defended Ricard in 2004 no longer practices in Georgia and declined to answer questions about Ricard.</p>
<p><img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-12/16/12/enhanced/webdr12/longform-original-12869-1418749236-4.jpg" width="1600" height="511" alt="" /></p>
<p><small></small></p>
<p>In any kind of administrative segregation, the inmate&rsquo;s cell must be checked &mdash; and the check must be documented &mdash; by guards every 30 minutes, according to Georgia Department of Corrections <a href="http://www.asca.net/system/assets/attachments/5595/GA%20IIB0901.SOP.pdf?1363974081">policies</a>.</p><p>The prison has not turned over the checklists for the 24 hours Ricard and Green were in the cell together. In a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375129-green-filing-re-deposition.html#document/p8/a191743">deposition</a>, Green&rsquo;s lawyer, Mario Williams, asked why the checklists were missing.</p><p>&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t confirm that they&rsquo;re missing,&rdquo; a prison official said. &ldquo;All I can tell you, we checked here at Rogers and we didn&rsquo;t find them.&rdquo;</p><p>In a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375129-green-filing-re-deposition.html#document/p33/a191745">report</a> on Green&rsquo;s case, former longtime Federal Bureau of Prisons official Joe Gunja &mdash; brought on by Williams to be an expert witness &mdash; said the missing checklists &ldquo;make no sense.&rdquo;</p><p>And then there&rsquo;s the double bunking &mdash; something only allowed in protective custody under two conditions, according to <a href="http://www.asca.net/system/assets/attachments/5595/GA%20IIB0901.SOP.pdf?1363974081">department policy</a>: an emergency situation, or with a recommendation from the classification committee. The warden must approve that recommendation. In this case, Hooks would have recommended bunking a minimum-security nonviolent offender, Green, with a medium-security sexually violent offender, Ricard.</p><p>&ldquo;It is my professional opinion the risk to [Green] was more than obvious,&rdquo; Gunja wrote. That opinion is supported by a 2007 study out of California, which found that transgender inmates in male facilities are 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted. Green&rsquo;s attorney has also enlisted an author of this study, Valerie Jenness, as an expert witness.</p><p>&ldquo;By the time Green entered Rogers State Prison, in July 2012, the serious risk of rape to transgender women locked up in detention facilities was widely recognized by and among the corrections community,&rdquo; Jenness wrote in <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375129-green-filing-re-deposition.html#document/p55/a191747">her report</a>.</p><p>The Georgia Department of Corrections declined to comment for this story, citing the pending litigation. The <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375149-doc-first-answer.html">prison&rsquo;s</a> <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375150-doc-second-answer.html">responses</a> to Green&rsquo;s legal complaints don&rsquo;t offer any insight into the assignment decision, though the defendants deny being deliberately indifferent or depriving Green of her rights.</p><p>In a <a href="https://www.schr.org/files/post/files/Crisis%20of%20Violence%20in%20Prisons-9%20reduced%20FINAL.pdf">July 2014 report</a>, the Southern Center for Human Rights described the protective custody system at Georgia prisons as &ldquo;inadequate, leaving vulnerable prisoners to fend for themselves.&rdquo;</p><p>The report also cites ongoing problem with locks &ldquo;left broken for years&rdquo; at Georgia prisons. Green says she wrote to the warden about broken locks after their first meeting. Green&rsquo;s attorney argues the insecure locks facilitated Ricard&rsquo;s alleged assaults in the weeks leading up to the protective custody incident.</p><p>Joel Reid, an inmate housed with Green in the same dorm prior to the alleged attack, confirmed these conditions at Rogers in a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1375146-filing-with-reid-declaration.html#document/p17/a191791">recent declaration</a> to the court.</p><p>&ldquo;I witnessed inmates routinely walking around unauthorized at night to other inmates&rsquo; dorm rooms &mdash; after head count &mdash; due to the locks on our doors being unsecure (not locked) and thus permitting unauthorized roaming of inmates,&rdquo; Reid said.</p>
<p><img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-12/15/17/enhanced/webdr06/longform-original-8298-1418682266-21.jpg" width="1600" height="490" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Photograph by Matt Odom for BuzzFeed News</small></p>
nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultThe End Of Invisible Childrenhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/the-end-of-invisible-children?utm_term=4ldqpia
The group behind KONY 2012 will shutter its U.S. office and spend a year in transition, planning to close by the end of 2015.

Invisible Children, the nonprofit organization best known for its KONY 2012 campaign (and the ensuing backlash), will close its San Diego, California, headquarters and reduce its staff of about 22 U.S. employees to five remote workers this month — the organization's first step in a plan to cease operations by the end of next year.

"It's the end of Invisible Children as most people know it," said CEO Ben Keesey in a phone interview this weekend.

In 2015, Invisible Children — formed in 2004 to raise awareness about central African warlord Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) — will no longer produce the short films or youth-driven events it's become known for, Keesey said. It will operate only in the U.S. through political advocacy, lobbying Congressional support for ongoing anti-LRA investments. (One of the five remaining staff members will manage a group of volunteers to this end.) Meanwhile, key programs operated in Africa will go through a "12-month handover process."

These programs — including the Early Warning Network, a radio system connecting about 80 LRA-affected communities — will be taken over by trusted partners in the region, the organization said. Keesey estimated that the number of African jobs funded by Invisible Children will be reduced from "about 100 to 25 or 30."

In 2003, three aspiring California filmmakers traveled to Uganda in search of a "compelling story." They returned with footage of rural children trying to avoid capture by the LRA.

The friends made Invisible Children: Rough Cut and toured campuses with it — soliciting donations, selling merchandise, and organizing theatrical events around the cause. It became an IRS-certified nonprofit, and as its supporter base grew, revenue climbed into the millions. Then, most expenses were devoted to the film production and tours in the U.S. A smaller amount funded scholarships, teacher exchanges, and a seamstress program in central Africa.

Eight years after its founding, the release of "KONY 2012" changed everything for Invisible Children. The video was a call for a social-media age uprising; they wanted to make Joseph Kony "famous." The campaign initially appeared to be working — the video became the "most viral" of all time, and Invisible Children raised $5 million in 48 hours — until it started drawing serious criticism from academics, foreign policy wonks, and regional experts, culminating in the very public meltdown of Jason Russell, the video's narrator and last remaining of the three founders. The damage was drastic and long-lasting, as BuzzFeed News reported in March, the two-year anniversary of KONY 2012:

In the controversy's aftermath, Invisible Children had difficulty booking school tours for the first time in years. The money wasn't there like it used to be, with young fundraisers experiencing resistance — "from their families, their friends, people spitting on them, people calling them liars, people calling them stupid, they don't know what they're talking about," Russell says. "Before KONY 2012, our organization was predominantly seen as, Good job! You guys are inspiring, keep going, we believe in you. And all the sudden it flipped on its head — You guys are liars, you're a scam factory, you're fake, you're embezzling the money, or whatever."

By mid-2012, Invisible Children had nearly $26.5 million in revenue and $17 million in net assets. By mid-2013, the organization had $4.9 million in revenue (their lowest since 2005) and less than $6.6 million in assets. Sixty-five employees in the San Diego office became 29. Two floors of a building became one. About 130 staffers in Africa — 95% of them from the region — became 108.

Invisible Children maintains that KONY 2012 brought about significant victories in the effort to find Kony and assist LRA-affected regions, including new and renewed commitments from President Obama and Congress, the African Union, the United Nations, and the European Union. The organization also responded to the criticism by significantly changing its expense model, devoting more resources to African programs and scaling back U.S. campaigns. But Invisible Children could never quite erase the mark left by KONY 2012, particularly in the media.

Monday's announcement was not altogether surprising. When BuzzFeed News visited Invisible Children's headquarters, staffers talked at length about the end of the organization being within sight.

"We knew that there would be the day that we would put ourselves out of a job," Keesey said.

Still, Invisible Children's plan was to begin shutting down after Joseph Kony was captured or killed — he's still believed to be in hiding today, despite President Obama again boosting attempts to find him earlier this year.

While Invisible Children is asking for donations for a "Finishing Fund," to help finance the 2015 transition, there will be no big benefit concerts or campaigns marking the organization's end. Keesey said he still has hope Kony will be found in 2015 — at which point Invisible Children would go "back to the strategic drawing board, so to speak," he said, to focus on rehabilitating the communities most affected by Kony's crimes.

Keesey will remain on Invisible Children's board, which will likely continue through the end of 2015, but will only stay on staff to lead the remaining employees for about half the year, he said. Jason Russell's last day on staff will be this month. On Saturday, Keesey said, the organization gathered employees and alumni to talk about the transition. In an interview later that day, the CEO referenced the impact of KONY 2012 on the organization and its supporters.

"A lot of the really vocal critics in the wake of the KONY 2012 campaign, they'd go so far out of their way to tell young people their work doesn't matter — to knock people down from the mantle of 'You can impact the world,'" Keesey said. "Even though we're announcing this before the capture of Joseph Kony, the Invisible Children story is one of gigantic progress and huge impact in people's lives."

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/the-end-of-invisible-childrenMon, 15 Dec 2014 06:01:53 -0500<b>The group behind KONY 2012 will shutter its U.S. office and spend a year in transition, planning to close by the end of 2015.</b>jtesnonadult<small>Invisible Children chief creative officer Jason Russell and CEO Ben Keesey in San Diego on Oct. 2, 2012.</small>nonadultInvisible Children, the nonprofit organization best known for its <a href="http://invisiblechildren.com/kony-2012/">KONY 2012 campaign</a> (and the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story">ensuing backlash</a>), will close its San Diego, California, headquarters and reduce its staff of about 22 U.S. employees to five remote workers this month &mdash; the organization's first step in a plan to cease operations by the end of next year.
"It&#39;s the end of Invisible Children as most people know it," said CEO Ben Keesey in a phone interview this weekend.
In 2015, Invisible Children &mdash; formed in 2004 to raise awareness about central African warlord Joseph Kony&#39;s Lord&#39;s Resistance Army (LRA) &mdash; will no longer produce the short films or youth-driven events it&#39;s become <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-30/kony-2012-guerrilla-marketing#p1">known for</a>, Keesey said. It will operate only in the U.S. through political advocacy, lobbying Congressional support for ongoing anti-LRA investments. (One of the five remaining staff members will manage a group of volunteers to this end.) Meanwhile, key programs operated in Africa will go through a "12-month handover process."
These programs &mdash; including the <a href="http://invisiblechildren.com/program/early-warning-network/">Early Warning Network</a>, a radio system connecting about 80 LRA-affected communities &mdash; will be taken over by trusted partners in the region, the organization said. Keesey estimated that the number of African jobs funded by Invisible Children will be reduced from "about 100 to 25 or 30."
In 2003, three aspiring California filmmakers traveled to Uganda in search of a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/two-years-after-kony-2012-has-invisible-children-grown-up">"compelling story."</a> They returned with footage of rural children trying to avoid capture by the LRA.
The friends made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zNCJ8txFBY"><i>Invisible Children: Rough Cut</i></a> and toured campuses with it &mdash; soliciting donations, selling merchandise, and organizing <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/1610077/invisible-children-rescue-demonstration-draws-celebrities-in-new-york/">theatrical events</a> around the cause. It became an IRS-certified nonprofit, and as its supporter base grew, revenue climbed into the millions. Then, most expenses were devoted to the film production and tours in the U.S. A smaller amount funded scholarships, teacher exchanges, and a seamstress program in central Africa.
Eight years after its founding, the release of "KONY 2012" changed everything for Invisible Children. The video was a call for a social-media age uprising; they wanted to make Joseph Kony "famous." The campaign initially appeared to be working &mdash; the video became the <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/03/12/kony-most-viral/">"most viral"</a> of all time, and Invisible Children raised $5 million in 48 hours &mdash; until it started drawing serious criticism from academics, foreign policy wonks, and regional experts, culminating in the very public meltdown of Jason Russell, the video&#39;s narrator and last remaining of the three founders. The damage was drastic and long-lasting, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/two-years-after-kony-2012-has-invisible-children-grown-up">as BuzzFeed News reported</a> in March, the two-year anniversary of KONY 2012:
<blockquote>In the controversy&#39;s aftermath, Invisible Children had difficulty booking school tours for the first time in years. The money wasn&#39;t there like it used to be, with young fundraisers experiencing resistance &mdash; "from their families, their friends, people spitting on them, people calling them liars, people calling them stupid, they don&#39;t know what they&#39;re talking about," Russell says. "Before KONY 2012, our organization was predominantly seen as, <i>Good job! You guys are inspiring, keep going, we believe in you</i>. And all the sudden it flipped on its head &mdash; <i>You guys are liars, you&#39;re a scam factory, you&#39;re fake, you&#39;re embezzling the money, or whatever</i>."
By mid-2012, Invisible Children had nearly $26.5 million in revenue and $17 million in net assets. By mid-2013, the organization had $4.9 million in revenue (their lowest since 2005) and less than $6.6 million in assets. Sixty-five employees in the San Diego office became 29. Two floors of a building became one. About 130 staffers in Africa &mdash; 95% of them from the region &mdash; became 108.</blockquote>
Invisible Children maintains that KONY 2012 brought about significant victories in the effort to find Kony and assist LRA-affected regions, including new and renewed commitments from President Obama and Congress, the African Union, the United Nations, and the European Union. The organization also responded to the criticism by significantly changing its expense model, devoting more resources to African programs and scaling back U.S. campaigns. But Invisible Children could never quite erase the mark left by KONY 2012, particularly in the media.
Monday&#39;s announcement was not altogether surprising. When BuzzFeed News visited Invisible Children&#39;s headquarters, staffers talked <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/two-years-after-kony-2012-has-invisible-children-grown-up">at length</a> about the end of the organization being within sight.
"We knew that there would be the day that we would put ourselves out of a job," Keesey said.
Still, Invisible Children&#39;s plan was to begin shutting down after Joseph Kony was captured or killed &mdash; he&#39;s still believed to be in hiding today, despite President Obama again boosting attempts to find him <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/2014/03/23/aa468ca6-b2d0-11e3-8020-b2d790b3c9e1_story.html">earlier this year</a>.
While Invisible Children is asking for donations for a "Finishing Fund," to help finance the 2015 transition, there will be no big benefit concerts or campaigns marking the organization&#39;s end. Keesey said he still has hope Kony will be found in 2015 &mdash; at which point Invisible Children would go "back to the strategic drawing board, so to speak," he said, to focus on rehabilitating the communities most affected by Kony&#39;s crimes.
Keesey will remain on Invisible Children&#39;s board, which will likely continue through the end of 2015, but will only stay on staff to lead the remaining employees for about half the year, he said. Jason Russell&#39;s last day on staff will be this month. On Saturday, Keesey said, the organization gathered employees and alumni to talk about the transition. In an interview later that day, the CEO referenced the impact of KONY 2012 on the organization and its supporters.
"A lot of the really vocal critics in the wake of the KONY 2012 campaign, they&#39;d go so far out of their way to tell young people their work doesn&#39;t matter &mdash; to knock people down from the mantle of &#39;You can impact the world,&#39;" Keesey said. "Even though we&#39;re announcing this before the capture of Joseph Kony, the Invisible Children story is one of gigantic progress and huge impact in people&#39;s lives."nonadultnonadultInvisible Children has posted a <a href="http://invisiblechildren.com/">message to supporters</a> on its website. The organization says it needs to fundraise $150,000 to operate in 2015.nonadultFormer UVA Fraternity Member Hires Lawyer Who Specializes In Sex Assault Caseshttp://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/former-uva-fraternity-member-hires-lawyer-for-accused-men?utm_term=4ldqpia
As Rolling Stone apologizes for “discrepancies” in its blockbuster campus rape story, BuzzFeed News has confirmed that former Phi Kappa Psi member Christopher Pivik has retained a lawyer who specializes in fighting back against sexual assault accusations.

An exterior view of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at the University of Virginia

AP Photo/The Daily Progress, Ryan M. Kelly

Christopher Pivik, a former member of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia, has retained attorney Andrew Miltenberg, a lawyer who has represented at least two dozen men found responsible for sexual misconduct at their colleges, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Pivik, an analyst at Signal Hill in Boston, graduated from the University of Virginia in 2014. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Miltenberg confirmed Pivik was his client but declined to comment further. In an interview Friday, he lambasted a recent Rolling Stone story centered on an alleged gang-rape at Phi Kappa Psi.

"This was extremely irresponsible reporting. It fueled an already highly polarizing issue, and did nothing to help foster or continue a productive dialogue," Miltenberg said.

In the piece, investigative journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdley tells the story of Jackie, who said she was gang-raped by seven men at a Phi Kappa Psi party in September 2012, when she was 18. None of the men are named in the story, except Jackie's date, "Drew" — not his real name — a fellow lifeguard who allegedly "gave instruction and encouragement."

On Friday, Rolling Stone issued a statement saying "there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie's account," following a week of stories from The Washington Post, Slate, and others calling the reporting of the story into question. Erdley, for example, did not reach out to the men allegedly involved in the rape.

BuzzFeed reached out to a woman believed to be Jackie multiple times on Friday but did not receive a response.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/former-uva-fraternity-member-hires-lawyer-for-accused-menFri, 05 Dec 2014 17:59:58 -0500<b>As <i>Rolling Stone</i> apologizes for "discrepancies" in its blockbuster campus rape story, BuzzFeed News has confirmed that former Phi Kappa Psi member Christopher Pivik has retained a lawyer who specializes in fighting back against sexual assault accusations.</b>katiejmbakernonadultnonadultChristopher PiviknonadultAn exterior view of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at the University of VirginianonadultChristopher Pivik, a former member of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia, has retained attorney Andrew Miltenberg, a lawyer who has represented <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/accused-men-say-the-system-hurting-college-sexual-assault-su">at least two dozen men</a> found responsible for sexual misconduct at their colleges, BuzzFeed News has learned.
Pivik, an analyst at Signal Hill in Boston, graduated from the University of Virginia in 2014. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Miltenberg confirmed Pivik was his client but declined to comment further. In an interview Friday, he lambasted a <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119#ixzz3L41ly6E8">recent <i>Rolling Stone</i> story</a> centered on an alleged gang-rape at Phi Kappa Psi.
"This was extremely irresponsible reporting. It fueled an already highly polarizing issue, and did nothing to help foster or continue a productive dialogue," Miltenberg said.
In the piece, investigative journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdley tells the story of Jackie, who said she was gang-raped by seven men at a Phi Kappa Psi party in September 2012, when she was 18. None of the men are named in the story, except Jackie's date, "Drew" &mdash; not his real name &mdash; a fellow lifeguard who allegedly "gave instruction and encouragement."
On Friday, <i>Rolling Stone</i> issued a <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/a-note-to-our-readers-20141205">statement</a> saying "there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie&#39;s account," following a week of stories from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/u-va-fraternity-to-rebut-claims-of-gang-rape-in-rolling-stone/2014/12/05/5fa5f7d2-7c91-11e4-84d4-7c896b90abdc_story.html"><i>The Washington Post</i></a>, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/12/sabrina_rubin_erdely_uva_why_didn_t_a_rolling_stone_writer_talk_to_the_alleged.html"><i>Slate</i></a>, and others calling the reporting of the story into question. Erdley, for example, did not reach out to the men allegedly involved in the rape.
BuzzFeed reached out to a woman believed to be Jackie multiple times on Friday but did not receive a response.nonadultWhy Is Bill Cosby’s Career Over, But Terry Richardson’s Isn’t?http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/bill-cosby-terry-richardson?utm_term=4ldqpia
The power of outcry momentum — and having a famous accuser.

Cosby in Philadelphia in November 2014.

AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

Though at first glance, the two men couldn't seem more different — Jell-O commercials vs. sex-party book different — there are remarkable similarities between the scandals surrounding Bill Cosby and fashion photographer Terry Richardson, who've separately been accused of predatory behavior by more than a dozen women.

Richardson has never been accused of drugging and raping women, as Cosby repeatedly has, but the photographer's alleged victims often say "Uncle Terry" used his industry influence and acclaim to coerce them into performing sexual acts. In many cases, as with Cosby's alleged victims, there was the promise of a future job. Some of these women said Cosby and Richardson's staff facilitated or otherwise witnessed the encounters. Many said they were aspiring models at the time. These allegations have been reported in the media for years — Cosby since 2005, Richardson since about 2010.

But the way in which Cosby's and Richardson's respective employers have responded to public outcry this year provides a new barometer for how long powerful men can maintain their reputations after the first whisper of misconduct. And both cases reinforce the ways in which these men are able to sidestep accusations until a crucial tipping point occurs.

Neither Cosby nor Richardson has been charged with a crime. They have both settled lawsuits related to their alleged misconduct. They've also both publicly denied wrongdoing. But they've remained beloved and defended by fans and industry peers alike, allowing them to continue getting work.

Until Tuesday, when Janice Dickinson changed everything for Bill Cosby.

Nearly five hours after the former supermodel and reality-TV star revealed she'd allegedly been raped by Cosby, Netflix announced it was postponing Cosby's stand-up special. Eighteen hours later, NBC confirmed that it too was shelving a new Cosby sitcom. Almost 24 hours later, TV Land pulled reruns of The Cosby Show. On Friday, Cosby's Nov. 28 stand-up show in Las Vegas was also canceled.

None of these companies made statements naming Dickinson or even referencing the allegations against Cosby. But for those watching the Cosby story unfold over the last decade, the cascade of cancellations following Dickinson's revelations seemed like a definitive moment: the first acknowledgment by Cosby's industry that it would no longer ignore his alleged misdeeds.

But, why now? NBC, which announced a new Cosby project in January of this year, did not sever ties in February, when Gawker resurfaced the allegations and Newsweek interviewed former model Tamara Green, who first came forward in 2005 with claims that Cosby raped her in the '70s. Netflix did not sever ties on Nov. 13, when two million people read a Washington Post essay by former model Barbara Bowman, who also came forward in 2005, claiming Cosby raped her in 1985. In her column, Bowman wrote about the renewed interest in Cosby's allegations that began in late October, after a six-month-old joke by comedian Hannibal Buress went viral, sparking another round of awareness — for those who missed the last one — and a Twitter meme-gone-wrong.

"Only after a man, Hannibal Buress, called Bill Cosby a rapist ... did the public outcry begin in earnest," Bowman wrote. "The women victimized by Bill Cosby have been talking about his crimes for more than a decade. Why didn't our stories go viral?"

Even after Bowman's column, the renewed scrutiny seemed no different from the flickering rounds of bad Cosby press that came before it: The public would be reminded of the allegations, Cosby would stay silent, and after some indeterminate amount of time, everyone would mostly stop paying attention. This trajectory is familiar — just ask Richardson or R. Kelly. The allegations of these unknown women always resurface, and the careers of these men never suffer for very long.

Then Dickinson became the latest Cosby accuser, alleging he assaulted her — possibly even drugged her — in 1982. But Dickinson is not like the other Cosby accusers in one critical way: She's famous. Her story may not have made much of a difference if it stood alone 30 years ago — a tragedy in itself, as Roxane Gay pointed out Friday — but with renewed public interest in the allegations against Cosby, she was the backbreaking straw.

Dickinson came forward, and three major Cosby employers killed his projects within a day. A woman with a name came forward, and Cosby's career may never be the same.

Richardson in Hollywood in March 2014.

Danny Moloshok / Reuters

It took 10 years, sure, but it happened so quickly. After TV Land's abrupt suspension of Cosby Show reruns, the Associated Press released weeks-old footage of Cosby convincing a reporter to "scuttle" questions about the resurfaced allegations. TMZ published Polaroids Dickinson took of Cosby before she allegedly blacked out. And in the aftermath, the speed at which Cosby's public image fell apart within days stands in glaring contrast to the pace at which employers distanced themselves from Richardson earlier this year, when new allegations about his past behavior came to light.

In March, a former art student told Vocativ that Richardson "groped her and defiled her face" in 2009. In April, a young model tweeted screenshots of Richardson allegedly propositioning her over Facebook messages — it's now believed these messages were faked, but at the time they spurred Vogue, which (quietly) hadn't worked with Richardson since 2010, to make its first statement on its severed relationship with the photographer.

Over the next few months, more brands said they had no plans to work with Richardson — six made distancingstatements to BuzzFeed News. Twenty-eight remained silent. For all the similarities in the outcry against them, there was no tipping point for Richardson — no Hannibal Buress, no Janice Dickinson. He continues getting high-profile work, including a campaign starring Miley Cyrus for an Italian hosiery brand and the fall 2014 campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent and Zadig & Voltaire. In July, Playboy announced it would release an entire Terry-tinted issue.

While Richardson's career moves ahead, it's hard to imagine that Cosby's ever will — though these careers, unlike the scandals, are not exactly comparable. Cosby was a comedian first, but he built his image on wholesome values dressed up in dad sweaters, becoming a symbol of black professional class striving. Richardson, with his full-sleeve tattoos and flannel shirts, built his image on deliberate sleaze, inserting celebrities and himself in the Venn diagram of pornography and art. Maybe Richardson's big-name employers — like Valentino and GQ — would publicly drop him if a famous woman joined the unknown accusers, as Dickinson did. But then again, Richardson has made raw, boundary-pushing sex part of his brand. The unspoken defense against his allegations has always been that his employers should have known what they signed up for.

The most famous woman to hint at Richardson's alleged behavior is the model Coco Rocha, who told Canada's Fashion in 2010, "I've shot with him, but I didn't feel comfortable and I won't do it again."

It's not clear that Rocha was referring to sexual advances — she's never elaborated on them, and Richardson's team later told New York her comments were related to the theme of a photo shoot. But if Rocha was hinting at sexual abuse, speaking in any more detail could have hurt her in the fashion industry, where Richardson still had more power than her. It's no coincidence that Dickinson told her full story now, decades after her encounter with Cosby and years since her career has drawn any real attention — years too since she made hinting comments not unlike Rocha's to Howard Stern. Dickinson doesn't have to worry about making professional enemies anymore.

Tamara Green was a trial attorney in 2005 when she came forward — even in an industry that Cosby couldn't touch, speaking out was a "career-ender," she told Newsweek earlier this year.

"It casts a shadow on your character," she said, "if you dare to attack one of these icons."

Since Dickinson's revelations, more alleged Cosby victims have emerged, emboldened to tell their stories now that more people are listening. Thanks to the swift public departure of Cosby's employers, the shadow may have been lifted. But Richardson's accusers are still living in it.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/bill-cosby-terry-richardsonFri, 21 Nov 2014 16:34:51 -0500<b>The power of outcry momentum &mdash; and having a famous accuser.</b>jtesnonadult<small>Cosby in Philadelphia in November 2014.</small>nonadultThough at first glance, the two men couldn't seem more different &mdash; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJhjf7KUyko">Jell-O commercials</a> vs. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/3822822558/?tag=buzz0f-20">sex-party book</a> different &mdash; there are remarkable similarities between the scandals surrounding Bill Cosby and fashion photographer Terry Richardson, who&#39;ve separately been accused of predatory behavior by more than a dozen women.
<a href="http://www.styleite.com/features/a-horrifying-timeline-of-terry-richardson-allegations-from-trash-cans-to-tampon-tea/">Richardson</a> has never been accused of drugging and raping women, as <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/timeline-of-the-abuse-charges-against-cosby.html">Cosby</a> repeatedly has, but the photographer&#39;s alleged victims often say "Uncle Terry" used his industry influence and acclaim to coerce them into performing sexual acts. In many cases, as with Cosby&#39;s alleged victims, there was the promise of a future job. Some of these women said Cosby and Richardson&#39;s staff facilitated or otherwise witnessed the encounters. Many said they were aspiring models at the time. These allegations have been reported in the media for years &mdash; Cosby since 2005, Richardson since about 2010.
But the way in which Cosby&#39;s and Richardson&#39;s respective employers have responded to public outcry this year provides a new barometer for how long powerful men can maintain their reputations after the first whisper of misconduct. And both cases reinforce the ways in which these men are able to sidestep accusations until a crucial tipping point occurs.
Neither Cosby nor Richardson has been charged with a crime. They have both settled lawsuits related to their alleged misconduct. They&#39;ve also both publicly denied wrongdoing. But they&#39;ve remained beloved and defended by fans and industry peers alike, allowing them to continue getting work.
Until Tuesday, when Janice Dickinson changed everything for Bill Cosby.
Nearly five hours after the former supermodel and reality-TV star revealed she&#39;d allegedly been raped by Cosby, Netflix <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/janice-dickinson-says-bill-cosby-raped-her">announced</a> it was postponing Cosby&#39;s stand-up special. Eighteen hours later, NBC confirmed that it too was shelving a new Cosby sitcom. Almost 24 hours later, TV Land pulled reruns of <i>The Cosby Show</i>. On Friday, Cosby&#39;s Nov. 28 stand-up show in Las Vegas was also canceled.
None of these companies made statements naming Dickinson or even referencing the allegations against Cosby. But for those watching the Cosby story unfold over the last decade, the cascade of cancellations following Dickinson&#39;s revelations seemed like a definitive moment: the first acknowledgment by Cosby&#39;s industry that it would no longer <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/nbc-bill-cosby-comedy-is-moving-forward">ignore</a> his alleged misdeeds.
But, why now? NBC, which announced a new Cosby project in January of this year, did not sever ties in February, when <a href="http://gawker.com/who-wants-to-remember-bill-cosbys-multiple-sex-assaul-1515923178"><i>Gawker</i></a> resurfaced the allegations and <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/tamara-green-talks-about-bill-cosby-228495#.UvmIS0yi5eI.twitter"><i>Newsweek</i></a> interviewed former model Tamara Green, who first came forward in 2005 with claims that Cosby raped her in the &#39;70s. Netflix did not sever ties on Nov. 13, when <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/bill-cosby-was-accused-of-rape-eight-years-ago-why-is-the-story-is-going-viral-now/2014/11/16/33d57d00-6dd0-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html">two million people</a> read a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/13/bill-cosby-raped-me-why-did-it-take-30-years-for-people-to-believe-my-story/"><i>Washington Post</i> essay</a> by former model Barbara Bowman, who also came forward in 2005, claiming Cosby raped her in 1985. In her column, Bowman wrote about the renewed interest in Cosby&#39;s allegations that began in late October, after a six-month-old joke by comedian Hannibal Buress went viral, sparking another round of awareness &mdash; for those who missed the last one &mdash; and a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/the-bill-cosby-cosbymeme-hashtag-backfired-immediately">Twitter meme-gone-wrong</a>.
"Only after a <i>man</i>, Hannibal Buress, called Bill Cosby a rapist ... did the public outcry begin in earnest," Bowman wrote. "The women victimized by Bill Cosby have been talking about his crimes for more than a decade. Why didn&#39;t our stories go viral?"
Even after Bowman&#39;s column, the renewed scrutiny seemed no different from the flickering rounds of bad Cosby press that came before it: The public would be reminded of the allegations, Cosby would stay silent, and after some indeterminate amount of time, everyone would mostly stop paying attention. This trajectory is familiar &mdash; just ask Richardson or <a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2013/12/read_the_stomac.php">R. Kelly</a>. The allegations of these unknown women always resurface, and the careers of these men never suffer for very long.
Then Dickinson became the latest Cosby accuser, alleging he assaulted her &mdash; <a href="http://www.etonline.com/news/154076_janice_dickinson_details_alleged_bill_cosby_sexual_assault/">possibly even drugged her</a> &mdash; in 1982. But Dickinson is not like the other Cosby accusers in one critical way: She&#39;s famous. Her story may not have made much of a difference if it stood alone 30 years ago &mdash; a tragedy in itself, as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/21/bill-cosby-rape-accusers-women-stories">Roxane Gay pointed out Friday</a> &mdash; but with renewed public interest in the allegations against Cosby, she was the backbreaking straw.
Dickinson came forward, and three major Cosby employers killed his projects within a day. A woman with a name came forward, and Cosby&#39;s career may never be the same.nonadult<small>Richardson in Hollywood in March 2014.</small>nonadultIt took 10 years, sure, but it happened so quickly. After TV Land's abrupt suspension of <i>Cosby Show</i> reruns, the Associated Press released <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/bill-cosby-pressured-ap-reporter-to-scuttle-interview-of-sex">weeks-old footage</a> of Cosby convincing a reporter to "scuttle" questions about the resurfaced allegations. <i>TMZ</i> published <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2014/11/21/janice-dickinson-bill-cosby-rape-robe-pictures/">Polaroids</a> Dickinson took of Cosby before she allegedly blacked out. And in the aftermath, the speed at which Cosby&#39;s public image fell apart within days stands in glaring contrast to the pace at which employers distanced themselves from Richardson earlier this year, when new allegations about <i>his</i> past behavior came to light.
In March, a former art student told <a href="http://vocativ.com/underworld/sex/oh-god-whats-happening-close-personal-terry-richardson-model/"><i>Vocativ</i></a> that Richardson "groped her and defiled her face" in 2009. In April, a young model tweeted screenshots of Richardson allegedly propositioning her over Facebook messages &mdash; it&#39;s now believed these messages were <a href="http://www.complex.com/style/2014/04/facebook-confirms-terry-richardsons-message-asking-model-emma-appleton-for-sex-was-fake">faked</a>, but at the time they spurred <i>Vogue</i>, which (quietly) hadn&#39;t worked with Richardson since 2010, to make its <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/vogue-terry-richardson-conde-nast">first statement</a> on its severed relationship with the photographer.
Over the next few months, more brands said they had no plans to work with Richardson &mdash; six made <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/rolling-stone-gq-and-other-magazines-silent-on-terry-richard">distancing</a> <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/buzzfeed-asks-25-fashion-companies-will-you-still-work-with">statements</a> to BuzzFeed News. Twenty-eight remained silent. For all the similarities in the outcry against them, there was no tipping point for Richardson &mdash; no Hannibal Buress, no Janice Dickinson. He continues getting high-profile work, including a campaign starring Miley Cyrus for an Italian hosiery brand and the fall 2014 campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent and Zadig &amp; Voltaire. In July, <i>Playboy</i> announced it would release an entire <a href="http://jezebel.com/playboy-set-to-release-an-issue-shot-entirely-by-terry-1603685809">Terry-tinted issue</a>.
While Richardson&#39;s career moves ahead, it&#39;s hard to imagine that Cosby&#39;s ever will &mdash; though these careers, unlike the scandals, are not exactly comparable. Cosby was a comedian first, but he built his image on wholesome values dressed up in dad sweaters, becoming <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120338/bill-cosby-rape-allegations-why-america-took-so-long-wake">a symbol</a> of black professional class striving. Richardson, with his full-sleeve tattoos and flannel shirts, built his image on deliberate sleaze, inserting celebrities and himself in the Venn diagram of pornography and art. Maybe Richardson&#39;s big-name employers &mdash; like Valentino and <i>GQ</i> &mdash; would publicly drop him if a famous woman joined the unknown accusers, as Dickinson did. But then again, Richardson has made raw, boundary-pushing sex part of his brand. The unspoken defense against his allegations has always been that his employers should have known what they signed up for.
The most famous woman to hint at Richardson&#39;s alleged behavior is the model Coco Rocha, who told <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.archive.org%2Fweb%2F20100716165700%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.fashionmagazine.com%2Ffashion-file%2Fregulararticle%2F845&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNF7Eio6Oc-sTkYNpdDxAq80pmxvhA">Canada&#39;s <i>Fashion</i> in 2010</a>, "I&#39;ve shot with him, but I didn&#39;t feel comfortable and I won&#39;t do it again."
It&#39;s not clear that Rocha was referring to sexual advances &mdash; she&#39;s never elaborated on them, and Richardson&#39;s team later told <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/06/terry-richardson-interview.html"><i>New York</i></a> her comments were related to the theme of a photo shoot. But if Rocha was hinting at sexual abuse, speaking in any more detail could have hurt her in the fashion industry, where Richardson still had more power than her. It&#39;s no coincidence that Dickinson told her full story now, decades after her encounter with Cosby and years since her career has drawn any real attention &mdash; years too since she made hinting comments not unlike Rocha&#39;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JglTnLBKMc">to Howard Stern</a>. Dickinson doesn&#39;t have to worry about making professional enemies anymore.
Tamara Green was a trial attorney in 2005 when she came forward &mdash; even in an industry that Cosby couldn&#39;t touch, speaking out was a "career-ender," she told <i>Newsweek</i> earlier this year.
"It casts a shadow on your character," she said, "if you dare to attack one of these icons."
Since Dickinson&#39;s revelations, more alleged Cosby victims have <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/another-woman-says-bill-cosby-drugged-and-raped-her">emerged</a>, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/tasneemnashrulla/former-model-accuses-bill-cosby-of-sexual-assault">emboldened</a> to tell their stories now that more people are listening. Thanks to the swift public departure of Cosby&#39;s employers, the shadow may have been lifted. But Richardson&#39;s accusers are still living in it.nonadultnonadultMore Charges Filed Against Oklahoma City Cop Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Womenhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/more-charges-filed-against-oklahoma-city-cop-accused-of-sexu?utm_term=4ldqpia
Holtzclaw now faces 32 charges related to the sexual abuse of 13 women — up from 16 counts from 8 women, as detailed in a September BuzzFeed News story.

AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

According to court records obtained by KWTV-TV, Holtzclaw allegedly told his victims things like, "You are going to give me some sex ... Or you're ass is going to jail," or, "This is what you are going to have to do. I don't want to take you to jail."

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/more-charges-filed-against-oklahoma-city-cop-accused-of-sexuWed, 05 Nov 2014 19:44:49 -0500<b>Holtzclaw now faces 32 charges related to the sexual abuse of 13 women &mdash; up from 16 counts from 8 women, as detailed in a September <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/daniel-holtzclaw-alleged-sexual-assault-oklahoma-city">BuzzFeed News</a> story.</b>jtesnonadultnonadultnonadultAccording to court records obtained by KWTV-TV, Holtzclaw allegedly told his victims things like, "You are going to give me some sex ... Or you're ass is going to jail," or, "This is what you are going to have to do. I don&#39;t want to take you to jail."nonadultnonadultnonadultHoltzclaw worked the 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift in northeast Oklahoma City. He had been on the force for three years.nonadultnonadult<small>Sept. 2, 2012 photo provided by the Oklahoma Police Dept.</small>nonadultAn investigation into Holtzclaw began after one woman, identified as J.L., went to the police following an alleged encounter with the 27-year-old officer.
<blockquote>Holtzclaw's "mistake" &mdash; the slip-up that prosecutors said landed him in orange jail scrubs in an unremarkable fluorescent-lit courtroom on Wednesday &mdash; was believing J.L. was similar to his other alleged victims: all black middle-aged women, but women of a lower social status and with reason to fear the authorities. They had been caught with active warrants or drug paraphernalia. J.L., Davis said, had no criminal record to be held over her. She was driving through the neighborhood where the other women were confronted, but she didn&#39;t live there.</blockquote>nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultIn this Sept. 29, 2007 file photo, Eastern Michigan linebacker Daniel Holtzclaw, right, brings down a Vanderbilt tailback.nonadultFrom prosecutors' first filing against the former <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/09/okc_cop_ex-emu_football_star_d_1.html">Eastern Michigan star player</a>, officials said there was a possibility more victims would come forward.nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultThe Definitive "Serial" Obsessive Pollhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/juliafurlan/the-definitive-serial-obsessive-poll?utm_term=4ldqpia
Calling all armchair detectives. How do your opinions of the Adnan Syed case stack up?

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/juliafurlan/the-definitive-serial-obsessive-pollTue, 04 Nov 2014 12:52:14 -0500<b>Calling all armchair detectives.</b> How do your opinions of the <a href="http://serialpodcast.org/">Adnan Syed case</a> stack up?juliafurlannonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadult• Rabia Chaudry, Adnan's family friend and the lawyer who brought the case to the attention of Koenig, is <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/splitthemoon/">maintaining a blog with her own findings.</a>
• You can spend hours on the <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/serialpodcast"><i>Serial</i> Podcast subreddit</a>, where people share information and discuss their theories.
• <i>Slate</i>'s weekly <a href="http://www.slate.com/topics/s/serial.html"><i>Spoiler Special</i></a> has editors discussing each episode of <i>Serial</i> as they're released.
• And <i>Slate</i>'s Hanna Rosin <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/10/serial_podcast_and_storytelling_does_sarah_koenig_think_adnan_syed_is_innocent.html">asks</a> whether Sarah Koenig has made up her mind.nonadultnonadultA Transgender Woman Says She Was Locked In A Cell With Her Rapisthttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/a-transgender-woman-says-she-was-locked-in-a-cell-with-her-r?utm_term=4ldqpia
In a lawsuit, Zahara Green says that after she asked Georgia prison officials for protection, she found herself sharing a cell with the inmate who had been abusing her. Original reporting from BuzzFeed News’ Jessica Testa.

Zahara Green

Courtesy Mario Williams

The odds were already against Zahara Green when she entered prison on May 10, 2012. Prisons have long been plagued by a culture of sexual harassment and assault, but Green was a transgender woman in an all-male facility — making her about 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than a non-transgender inmate, according to a 2009 study.

Green told BuzzFeed News she distinctly remembers her first day in general population at Rogers State Prison, a facility about an hour and a half outside of Savannah, Georgia. It was two months into her sentence, and she said she can still envision the officer dropping her off at her dorm and walking away.

"I kind of just felt that he was letting me out with the wolves. You're on your own. It clicked in my mind," she said. "I found my bed, I placed my stuff on my bed, and then I sat there for about an hour and people were just coming in and out as if this was some kind of showcase."

Under federal law, states must seriously consider transgender inmates' safety concerns — and the Georgia Department of Corrections has said it has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct. Yet the state of Georgia placed Green in a men's prison, where she faced a greater risk of being assaulted. Around the country, decisions on transgender inmates' placement and their level of protection are ultimately made on a case-by-case basis. But according to her lawsuit, these often ambiguous decisions and lack of safety oversight may have played a role in Zahara Green's alleged rape by another inmate — not while they mingled in general population, but while she was being secured in "protective custody."

Green was approached by Darryl Ricard — a high-ranking gang member within the prison, she said — right after moving to the dorm at Rogers. He was in his seventh year of a life sentence for aggravated child molestation, rape, and kidnapping.

"He basically made me his property," she said.

Over the next few weeks, as Ricard repeatedly coerced her to perform oral sex on him, Green would write to prison administrative staff about the unsafe environment for transgender and homosexual inmates, Green said. Rogers State Prison housed one other transgender woman at the time, to Green's knowledge, although Green was the only one receiving hormone treatment. In one letter, she says she mentioned being sexually targeted by Ricard.

Shortly afterward, she requested to be put into protective custody, which is typically a solitary cell for prisoners who believe their safety is at risk, carefully monitored by prison officials. What allegedly happened next makes up the bulk of a lawsuit Green and her Atlanta-based lawyer Mario Williams filed in May against the prison's warden, deputy warden, and two correctional officers. Last week, they filed another complaint against an additional 13 additional correctional officers.

On Sept. 21, 2012, Green and Ricard were separately admitted into protective custody. According to Green, Ricard was the chief reason she had requested the special security measures. But for still unclear reasons, when Green entered her protective custody cell around 4:30 a.m., "Ricard was waiting" there, the complaint says. "Ricard raped Green, and the Defendants to this action all knew Ricard was going to rape (or at the very least, sexually assault) Green yet permitted Ricard to sexually assault Green." The correction officers allegedly "condoned" the rape.

According to Williams, Green's attorney, Green and Ricard had been assigned to different protective custody cells, and Ricard should have never been allowed in Green's cell. Nearly 24 hours passed, though security checks were supposed to be made at least every 30 minutes. Williams said he believes the Georgia Department of Corrections knew about the situation and did nothing to prevent Green's assault. The department declined to comment on the case to BuzzFeed News, citing pending litigation.

"Everyone has to wonder how Green's assailant got put in protective custody on the same day and same time as Green. Then permitted to be in Green's cell for nearly 24 hours," Williams said. "This case is about more than Ricard. There has been official misconduct."

In a court document responding to Green's complaint, a lawyer for the defendants — repeatedly referring to Green as "he" — denied that the deputy warden had read any letter about Ricard's "oral sodomy" of Green. The response noted that Green's mother had contacted the prison about her daughter's safety concerns, but alleged that when asked directly, Green said she "was not afraid." The response also said that Green was "at some point ... placed in the same cell as inmate Darryl Ricard."

While the case moves forward, some local and national groups have begun rallying around Green. One of the first people to reach out to her was Kenneth Glasgow of the Ordinary People Society. He describes Green as "humble and quiet," but also "tormented and traumatized," unable to talk at length about the incident; while Green spoke to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday, she once paused to keep from crying.

After the alleged assault — when Green eventually got a guard's attention — a sergeant came to the cell, she said. He apparently saw Ricard with a razor blade in his hand and stuck pepper spray through an opening in the cell door. Ricard quickly surrendered, Green said, and they were both separately removed from the cell. Later, Green was taken to a sexual assault examination nurse, who performed a rape kit.

Green was kept in protective custody for the next week and a half. Then she was transferred to Georgia State Prison, a facility down the street, where she immediately requested protective custody. Eventually she was placed in a unit made up a several single cells housing all transgender inmates. "I was the sixth or seventh on transgender hormone therapy," Green said. She felt safe there.

But it wasn't until her final transfer — to Atlanta Transitional Facility — that Green said she felt her life begin to change for the better.

Green was 17 when she began transitioning. It wasn't long after that she began shoplifting from various Walmarts — landing her with a prison sentence and a life ban from the retailer. She says she doesn't think this anymore, but at the time, theft felt like her only option.

"I did not think it was possible to find a job as a transgender person in Georgia. All the trans people I knew were either shoplifting, forging checks, or prostituting," she said. "I didn't know a single transgender person who had a job."

At the transitional center, "they opened my eyes to another way," she said. She's been on parole since her release in March. In August, she began school, working to become a paralegal. She has a job at Walgreens. She's helped her other transgender friends find jobs. She's 25 now and said, "There's a better life for me."

She hopes one outcome of the lawsuit is that transgender people are not tested out in general population before officials decide it's not a safe fit. While the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act forces states to take transgender inmates' safety concerns into consideration, Harper Jean Tobin of the National Center for Transgender Equality said it's not clear that they always do. (In Georgia, another transgender inmate is currently fighting for her access to hormone therapy in a high-profile case.)

"If institutions are able to make the culture shift ... toward not making those auto assumptions but really focusing on what is keeping each person safe," Tobin said, "they will start making those placements in women's facilities more often."

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/a-transgender-woman-says-she-was-locked-in-a-cell-with-her-rFri, 26 Sep 2014 11:32:43 -0400<b>In a lawsuit, Zahara Green says that after she asked Georgia prison officials for protection, she found herself sharing a cell with the inmate who had been abusing her.</b> Original reporting from BuzzFeed News&#39; Jessica Testa.jtesnonadult<small>Zahara Green</small>nonadultThe odds were already against Zahara Green when she entered prison on May 10, 2012. Prisons have long been plagued by a culture of sexual harassment and assault, but Green was a transgender woman in an all-male facility &mdash; making her about 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than a non-transgender inmate, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcl.american.edu%2Fendsilence%2Fdocuments%2FViolenceinCaliforniaCorrectionalFacilities.pdf&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnh40glfJuPdE629e2LVU_63dPog">according to a 2009 study</a>.
Green told BuzzFeed News she distinctly remembers her first day in general population at Rogers State Prison, a facility about an hour and a half outside of Savannah, Georgia. It was two months into her sentence, and she said she can still envision the officer dropping her off at her dorm and walking away.
"I kind of just felt that he was letting me out with the wolves. You're on your own. It clicked in my mind," she said. "I found my bed, I placed my stuff on my bed, and then I sat there for about an hour and people were just coming in and out as if this was some kind of showcase."
Under federal law, states must seriously consider transgender inmates&#39; safety concerns &mdash; and the Georgia Department of Corrections has said it has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct. Yet the state of Georgia placed Green in a men&#39;s prison, where she faced a greater risk of being assaulted. Around the country, decisions on transgender inmates&#39; placement and their level of protection are ultimately made on a case-by-case basis. But according to her lawsuit, these often ambiguous decisions and lack of safety oversight may have played a role in Zahara Green&#39;s alleged rape by another inmate &mdash; not while they mingled in general population, but while she was being secured in "protective custody."
Green was approached by Darryl Ricard &mdash; a high-ranking gang member within the prison, she said &mdash; right after moving to the dorm at Rogers. He was in his seventh year of a life sentence for aggravated child molestation, rape, and kidnapping.
"He basically made me his property," she said.
Over the next few weeks, as Ricard repeatedly coerced her to perform oral sex on him, Green would write to prison administrative staff about the unsafe environment for transgender and homosexual inmates, Green said. Rogers State Prison housed one other transgender woman at the time, to Green&#39;s knowledge, although Green was the only one receiving hormone treatment. In one letter, she says she mentioned being sexually targeted by Ricard.
Shortly afterward, she requested to be put into protective custody, which is typically a solitary cell for prisoners who believe their safety is at risk, carefully monitored by prison officials. What allegedly happened next makes up the bulk of a lawsuit Green and her Atlanta-based lawyer Mario Williams filed in May against the prison&#39;s warden, deputy warden, and two correctional officers. Last week, they filed another complaint against an additional 13 additional correctional officers.
On Sept. 21, 2012, Green and Ricard were separately admitted into protective custody. According to Green, Ricard was the chief reason she had requested the special security measures. But for still unclear reasons, when Green entered her protective custody cell around 4:30 a.m., "Ricard was waiting" there, the complaint says. "Ricard raped Green, and the Defendants to this action all knew Ricard was going to rape (or at the very least, sexually assault) Green yet permitted Ricard to sexually assault Green." The correction officers allegedly "condoned" the rape.
According to Williams, Green&#39;s attorney, Green and Ricard had been assigned to different protective custody cells, and Ricard should have never been allowed in Green&#39;s cell. Nearly 24 hours passed, though security checks were supposed to be made at least every 30 minutes. Williams said he believes the Georgia Department of Corrections knew about the situation and did nothing to prevent Green&#39;s assault. The department declined to comment on the case to BuzzFeed News, citing pending litigation.
"Everyone has to wonder how Green&#39;s assailant got put in protective custody on the same day and same time as Green. Then permitted to be in Green&#39;s cell for nearly 24 hours," Williams said. "This case is about more than Ricard. There has been official misconduct."
In a court document responding to Green&#39;s complaint, a lawyer for the defendants &mdash; repeatedly referring to Green as "he" &mdash; denied that the deputy warden had read any letter about Ricard&#39;s "oral sodomy" of Green. The response noted that Green&#39;s mother had contacted the prison about her daughter&#39;s safety concerns, but alleged that when asked directly, Green said she "was not afraid." The response also said that Green was "at some point ... placed in the same cell as inmate Darryl Ricard."
While the case moves forward, some local and national groups have begun rallying around Green. One of the first people to reach out to her was Kenneth Glasgow of the Ordinary People Society. He describes Green as "humble and quiet," but also "tormented and traumatized," unable to talk at length about the incident; while Green spoke to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday, she once paused to keep from crying.
After the alleged assault &mdash; when Green eventually got a guard&#39;s attention &mdash; a sergeant came to the cell, she said. He apparently saw Ricard with a razor blade in his hand and stuck pepper spray through an opening in the cell door. Ricard quickly surrendered, Green said, and they were both separately removed from the cell. Later, Green was taken to a sexual assault examination nurse, who performed a rape kit.
Green was kept in protective custody for the next week and a half. Then she was transferred to Georgia State Prison, a facility down the street, where she immediately requested protective custody. Eventually she was placed in a unit made up a several single cells housing all transgender inmates. "I was the sixth or seventh on transgender hormone therapy," Green said. She felt safe there.
But it wasn&#39;t until her final transfer &mdash; to Atlanta Transitional Facility &mdash; that Green said she felt her life begin to change for the better.
Green was 17 when she began transitioning. It wasn&#39;t long after that she began shoplifting from various Walmarts &mdash; landing her with a prison sentence and a life ban from the retailer. She says she doesn&#39;t think this anymore, but at the time, theft felt like her only option.
"I did not think it was possible to find a job as a transgender person in Georgia. All the trans people I knew were either shoplifting, forging checks, or prostituting," she said. "I didn&#39;t know a single transgender person who had a job."
At the transitional center, "they opened my eyes to another way," she said. She&#39;s been on parole since her release in March. In August, she began school, working to become a paralegal. She has a job at Walgreens. She&#39;s helped her other transgender friends find jobs. She&#39;s 25 now and said, "There&#39;s a better life for me."
She hopes one outcome of the lawsuit is that transgender people are not tested out in general population before officials decide it&#39;s not a safe fit. While the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act forces states to take transgender inmates&#39; safety concerns into consideration, Harper Jean Tobin of the National Center for Transgender Equality said it&#39;s not clear that they always do. (In Georgia, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Famerica.aljazeera.com%2Farticles%2F2014%2F5%2F14%2Ftransgender-chelseageorgia.html&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNEQRmjKIQ2v-fJjpkvbdZvDUfzgcw">another transgender inmate</a> is currently fighting for her access to hormone therapy in a high-profile case.)
"If institutions are able to make the culture shift ... toward not making those auto assumptions but really focusing on what is keeping each person safe," Tobin said, "they will start making those placements in women&#39;s facilities more often."nonadultHow Police Caught The Cop Who Allegedly Sexually Abused 8 Black Womenhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/daniel-holtzclaw-alleged-sexual-assault-oklahoma-city

AP Photo/Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office

OKLAHOMA CITY — Daniel Holtzclaw made a mistake, an Oklahoma County prosecutor argued on Wednesday: "He messed up."

Holtzclaw's mistake was pulling over the wrong person: A woman who, when he allegedly assaulted her, wouldn't hesitate to call the police.

It happened around 2 a.m. on June 18, when Holtzclaw, a 27-year-old police officer, was ending his shift on the northeast side of Oklahoma City. He switched off his patrol car computer. Then, without calling for assistance or otherwise notifying his station, police said, Holtzclaw made a traffic stop.

The woman — identified in court documents as J.L. and in local media reports as a 57-year-old grandmother — said she was driving home after playing dominos with a friend, according to detective Kim Davis, who recounted J.L.'s story at length during a hearing at the Oklahoma County Courthouse.

When Officer Holtzclaw approached J.L.'s car, she couldn't roll down her broken driver's side window, Davis said. So Holtzclaw directed her to the rear passenger side seat of his patrol car. He asked if she had been drinking — he had noticed a Styrofoam cup in her front seat. She said no, according to Davis, and that the drink was Kool-Aid. He continued questioning her, and she suggested he go taste it. He walked over to her car, but J.L. couldn't see what he was doing. When he came back, Holtzclaw asked if J.L. had anything else on her.

"If you have something on you and you tell me now, then I won't take you to jail," he allegedly told J.L., according to Davis. "But if you don't tell me about it now, and I find something, then I'm gonna take you to jail." J.L. said no, again. She was still sitting in his patrol car.

She lifted her shirt to her stomach, and Davis motioned. "He goes, 'I can't see that. There might be something in your bra.' And so she grabs the bottom of her bra, she said, and just shakes it … And he goes, 'Nope, that's not good enough.'"

J.L. lifted her shirt and bra, Davis said, and Holtzclaw shined his flashlight on her exposed breasts.

"She said about that time, she noticed that he started playing with his penis," Davis said. "Then he tells her to stand up ... and he says, 'Pull down your pants.'"

J.L. lowered her pants but left her underwear up, and Holtzclaw turned his flashlight to her "vaginal area," Davis said. Holtzclaw then told J.L. to sit back down. She planted her feet on the concrete, sitting sideways in his patrol car.

When J.L. looked up, Davis said, Holtzclaw's penis was in her face.

"She started begging him, 'Please don't do this. You're not supposed to do this.' ... She kept thinking in her mind, OK, this is a police officer, and if he's gonna do this, he's gonna kill me. And I'm not gonna make it out of this alive …"

"And he put it in her mouth, and she pulled away. And she said, 'Please, please don't do this.' And he put it back in her mouth. And she said for about 10 seconds. Then he pulled it out and stopped, and he told her, 'I'm gonna follow you home.'"

J.L. went back to her car, Davis said. She pulled into what she thought was a driveway, then did a U-turn. Holtzclaw pulled his car around her and unexpectedly took off.

At home, J.L. and her daughter did what middle-class people in Oklahoma City do when they've been the victim of crimes: called the local police station. When no one answered, according to Davis, they went to report the alleged assault in person.

Davis was the on-call detective in the Oklahoma City Police Sex Crimes Unit that night and met J.L. at the hospital, where she was receiving a sexual assault medical forensic exam. Two and a half months later, on Wednesday afternoon, Davis and another detective recounted for a district judge how J.L.'s report was similar to an unsolved May 2014 assault report allegedly involving an officer. The connection led the detectives to identify six more women who said they'd been assaulted, raped, or forced to expose themselves to Holtzclaw while he was on duty.

Holtzclaw's "mistake" — the slip-up that prosecutors said landed him in orange jail scrubs in an unremarkable fluorescent-lit courtroom on Wednesday — was believing J.L. was similar to his other alleged victims: all black middle-aged women, but women of a lower social status and with reason to fear the authorities. They had been caught with active warrants or drug paraphernalia. J.L., Davis said, had no criminal record to be held over her. She was driving through the neighborhood where the other women were confronted, but she didn't live there.

J.L.'s report would put Holtzclaw on administrative leave and make up two of the state's 16 charges against the young cop. But more broadly, it would launch a case that underscores how alleged police abuse of minorities goes far beyond Ferguson, Missouri — but how national attention does not.

In this Sept. 29, 2007, file photo, Eastern Michigan linebacker Daniel Holtzclaw (right) brings down Vanderbilt tailback Cassen Jackson-Garrison (22) in the first quarter of a college football game in Nashville.

AP / Mark Humphrey

Daniel Holtzclaw "vehemently denies each and every" charge brought against him, his lawyer said in a statement Saturday. Holtzclaw didn't speak at Wednesday's hearing. He would occasionally whisper to his attorneys, but his expression remained unreadable as he intently watched the witnesses — among them his father, a childhood friend who lived with Holtzclaw while he was at the police academy, and a sports reporter. Many more family members and friends sat in the front rows of the courtroom, including Holtzclaw's girlfriend of six months, his defense attorney Scott Adams said.

Holtzclaw joined the Oklahoma City Police Department in September 2011, officials said in a press conference after his arrest. A year earlier, he had graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a criminal justice degree and had tried and failed to get drafted into the NFL.

Holtzclaw today looks the same award-winning linebacker he did then: 6-foot-2, 260 pounds, tree-trunk neck, short black hair. When he was arrested, it was outside his gym.

Holtzclaw's father, Eric, is a 17-year veteran of the Enid Police Department. His mother, Kumiko, is unemployed but does some baking from their home, Eric Holtzclaw said. He has two sisters. One of them, Jenny, has been leading the movement to raise support for him online, selling shirts that say "Free the Claw" — his nickname.

Recently, on the Justice for Daniel Holtzclaw Facebook page she created, Jenny posted a message her father sent her after he passed a Coke machine at work and saw two bottles with their names — Daniel and Eric — side by side. He saw this as a "sign from god" and bought them. "I am determined to help him through these tough [times] for he is my son and I love him dearly!!!"

In a statement, the Holtzclaw family said much of the "witness and officer testimony presented by the prosecution … is based on solicited testimony by the police department of felons, prostitutes and others who would have personal motives beyond the basic truth to fabricate their stories."

"We ask the public to wait to cast judgment on Daniel as he is entitled to the same rights under the law as any other citizen," the family said.

AP / Sue Ogrocki

In May, a woman known as T.M. approached a group of officers and reported that an unknown officer had sexually assaulted her, Detective Rocky Gregory testified Wednesday.

Gregory said T.M. — an "admitted drug user, prostitute" — was at an apartment complex "kind of known for drugs," around 9 p.m. on May 8. She left on foot but was stopped by Holtzclaw, whom she'd allegedly seen at the complex earlier that night.

Holtzclaw put her in the backseat of his patrol car and took her purse, Gregory said. He drove for about two blocks before stopping to check her name for existing warrants. He then went through her purse and allegedly found a crack pipe.

"What are we gonna do about this?" Holtzclaw asked, according to Gregory.

"She says, 'Why don't you just stomp out the pipe, we'll call it good?'" Gregory said. T.M. was still sitting in the backseat, she said, when Holtzclaw got out of the car and exposed his erect penis to her.

"He's made it very clear it's basically this or jail," Gregory said. "She then turns her head, places her mouth on his penis, and performs oral sex for a short period of time."

Holtzclaw did not ejaculate, Gregory said, but he stopped after about two minutes. He offered to give her a ride, but she said no.

"He says, 'No, I want to make sure that you're safe,'" Gregory said. "He was supposed to take her to another location to let her go, but then he goes almost in the exact opposite direction, kind of zigzags through the neighborhood ... And then he starts to pull off by an open-field park area. Once he stopped there, she got real worried. She started to scream, thinking that this is not where it's gonna end."

But then Holtzclaw drove back around again, taking her to the place she originally wanted to go and letting her out. Later, T.M. showed Gregory in person the route they went. Gregory then referenced the route with Holtzclaw's automated vehicle locator, a GPS recorder on all patrol cars. It was an exact match, he said.

After connecting T.M. and J.L.'s reports, the Sex Crimes Unit began looking through Holtzclaw's automatically recorded history of running names through the department's two databases, looking specifically for people who'd been checked out multiple times. (One system shows information including someone's arrest record, what kind of contact they've had with police, whether they've reported a crime, and their address. The other system is used to check for existing warrants.)

Davis and Gregory took two lists of names — created by the unit's lieutenant through a victimology profile — into northeast Oklahoma City, telling each woman on the list that they had received a tip that she may have been sexually assaulted. An undisclosed "percentage" of the women said yes. By the end of the investigation, six more women joined T.M. — who initially did not want to prosecute — and J.L.

"They all matched up basically in age," Gregory said. "The earliest one was probably in her thirties. The oldest in the fifties. They all kind of looked like they were in their fifties."

They were all black women — a majority, he added, had "some kind of drug history, maybe a prostitution history."

By allegedly focusing on poor black women with criminal records, Holtzclaw kept himself from being caught — until he met J.L., a black woman who was just passing through the neighborhood he patrolled. "Not only is this individual stopping women who fit a profile of members of our society who are confronted rightly or wrongly by police officers all the time," said the prosecutor, Gieger. "He identifies a vulnerable society that without exception except one have an attitude for 'What good is it gonna do? He's a police officer. Who's going to believe me?'"

There was T.B., a woman who said she was confronted by Holtzclaw while sitting in a parked car in front of her house on Feb. 27, 2014. He ran her name and found existing warrants, Gregory said. He began asking her about drugs in the house and brought up the warrants, telling T.B. he could place her under arrest. He told her he needed to "check her for any drugs," Gregory said.

"He then tells her to lift her shirt. He lifts her shirt to her belly, says, 'Now I need to see everything.' He then makes reference about the warrants and the arrest ... She just goes ahead and lifts her bra and shirt according to what he requested."

Oklahoma City Police Department policy is to call a female officer over to do a complete search when the suspect is required to lift her shirt above her belly. T.B. had been stopped before and knew that was the procedure, Gregory said. But according to court documents, Holtzclaw touched her bare breasts with his hand and without her consent.

Through Holtzclaw's car GPS record, Gregory confirmed that the officer returned to T.B.'s house multiple times over the following month. In one instance, Holtzclaw allegedly broke into the house without permission, woke T.B.'s sleeping boyfriend — the only person in the house at the time — and told him to go outside, running his name for warrants.

Shortly afterward, T.B. pulled up to the house with her kids in the car, Gregory said, and Holtzclaw told her to step back to his patrol car.

He repeated the same motions, Gregory said — running her name for warrants, asking about drugs, and making "reference to, you know, 'We can kind of take care of these warrants ... Just play by my rules.'"

T.B. said she knew Holtzclaw meant that she could "do sexual favors and the warrants could probably disappear," according to Gregory.

Holtzclaw told T.B. to lift her shirt again, and T.B. complied, though "it was obvious she did not have a bra on," Gregory said. Then he looked down her pants; she said she didn't have any underwear on, according to Gregory.

T.B.'s boyfriend, Terry Williams, testified on Wednesday that Holtzclaw woke him up and "ran me outside," though he couldn't recall many specific details — he was "kind of tipsy that day," he said. But when T.B. later told him about her interactions with Holtzclaw, Williams "got kinda mad, and I just told her just to handle it the best way she can."

"Afterwards, [Holtzclaw] told [Williams], 'If I ever see you in this neighborhood or around this area, I'm gonna stop you every time,'" Gregory said. "He made it very clear he was not welcome around there, at this woman's house."

The next day, around dinnertime, Gregory said, T.B. saw Holtzclaw walking up to her house. She still didn't know the officer's name; she called him "Spike," because of his hair. "She knew that she was gonna be harassed by him again," Gregory said, and started to call her mother. Holtzclaw knocked at the door, and T.B. answered.

"She says, 'I'm making dinner for my kids,'" Gregory said. "He asked to come in. She tells him, 'No, you can't.' He says, 'Well, I need to check your house for drugs.'" They argued, and Holtzclaw told her that he would be back, according to Gregory, while T.B.'s mother listened on from the phone. T.B.'s mother later allegedly told the detective she could hear Holtzclaw "bullying her daughter."

T.B.'s allegations make up five of the 16 counts against Holtzclaw, including sexual battery, burglary, two counts of indecent exposure, and stalking.

AP Photo/Oklahoma Police Dept.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/daniel-holtzclaw-alleged-sexual-assault-oklahoma-cityFri, 05 Sep 2014 14:40:31 -0400<b>Prosecutors say Officer Daniel Holtzclaw made a mistake after a series of sexual assaults on black women in Oklahoma City &mdash; he profiled the wrong woman.</b> His family says he&#39;s a victim of "solicited testimony" from women who have "personal motives" to lie. BuzzFeed News reports from the Oklahoma County courtroom where, Wednesday, prosecutors described a pattern of sexual harassment and assault.jtesnonadult
<p><img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-09/5/13/enhanced/webdr11/enhanced-mid-6665-1409937502-1.jpg" width="720" height="534" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>AP Photo/Oklahoma County Sheriff&#39;s Office</small></p>
<p>OKLAHOMA CITY &mdash; Daniel Holtzclaw made a mistake, an Oklahoma County prosecutor argued on Wednesday: "He messed up."</p><p>Holtzclaw&#39;s mistake was pulling over the wrong person: A woman who, when he allegedly assaulted her, wouldn&#39;t hesitate to call the police.</p><p>It happened around 2 a.m. on June 18, when Holtzclaw, a 27-year-old police officer, was ending his shift on the northeast side of Oklahoma City. He switched off his patrol car computer. Then, without calling for assistance or otherwise notifying his station, police said, Holtzclaw made a traffic stop.</p><p>The woman &mdash; identified in court documents as J.L. and in <a href="http://www.news9.com/story/26343035/woman-who-sparked-ocpd-officer-investigation-speaks-out">local media reports</a> as a 57-year-old grandmother &mdash; said she was driving home after playing dominos with a friend, according to detective Kim Davis, who recounted J.L.&#39;s story at length during a hearing at the Oklahoma County Courthouse.</p><p>When Officer Holtzclaw approached J.L.&#39;s car, she couldn&#39;t roll down her broken driver&#39;s side window, Davis said. So Holtzclaw directed her to the rear passenger side seat of his patrol car. He asked if she had been drinking &mdash; he had noticed a Styrofoam cup in her front seat. She said no, according to Davis, and that the drink was Kool-Aid. He continued questioning her, and she suggested he go taste it. He walked over to her car, but J.L. couldn&#39;t see what he was doing. When he came back, Holtzclaw asked if J.L. had anything else on her.</p><p>"If you have something on you and you tell me now, then I won&#39;t take you to jail," he allegedly told J.L., according to Davis. "But if you don&#39;t tell me about it now, and I find something, then I&#39;m gonna take you to jail." J.L. said no, again. She was still sitting in his patrol car.</p><p>"He opens the door and he tells her, &#39;I&#39;ve got to check you,&#39;" Davis said. "And he says, &#39;Lift your shirt.&#39;"</p><p>She lifted her shirt to her stomach, and Davis motioned. "He goes, &#39;I can&#39;t see that. There might be something in your bra.&#39; And so she grabs the bottom of her bra, she said, and just shakes it &hellip; And he goes, &#39;Nope, that&#39;s not good enough.&#39;"</p><p>J.L. lifted her shirt and bra, Davis said, and Holtzclaw shined his flashlight on her exposed breasts.</p><p>"She said about that time, she noticed that he started playing with his penis," Davis said. "Then he tells her to stand up ... and he says, &#39;Pull down your pants.&#39;"</p><p>J.L. lowered her pants but left her underwear up, and Holtzclaw turned his flashlight to her "vaginal area," Davis said. Holtzclaw then told J.L. to sit back down. She planted her feet on the concrete, sitting sideways in his patrol car.</p><p>When J.L. looked up, Davis said, Holtzclaw&#39;s penis was in her face.</p><p>"She started begging him, &#39;Please don&#39;t do this. You&#39;re not supposed to do this.&#39; ... She kept thinking in her mind, <i>OK, this is a police officer, and if he&#39;s gonna do this, he&#39;s gonna kill me. And I&#39;m not gonna make it out of this alive</i> &hellip;"</p><p>"And he put it in her mouth, and she pulled away. And she said, &#39;Please, please don&#39;t do this.&#39; And he put it back in her mouth. And she said for about 10 seconds. Then he pulled it out and stopped, and he told her, &#39;I&#39;m gonna follow you home.&#39;"</p><p>J.L. went back to her car, Davis said. She pulled into what she thought was a driveway, then did a U-turn. Holtzclaw pulled his car around her and unexpectedly took off.</p><p>At home, J.L. and her daughter did what middle-class people in Oklahoma City do when they&#39;ve been the victim of crimes: called the local police station. When no one answered, according to Davis, they went to report the alleged assault in person.</p><p>Davis was the on-call detective in the Oklahoma City Police Sex Crimes Unit that night and met J.L. at the hospital, where she was receiving a sexual assault medical forensic exam. Two and a half months later, on Wednesday afternoon, Davis and another detective recounted for a district judge how J.L.&#39;s report was similar to an unsolved May 2014 assault report allegedly involving an officer. The connection led the detectives to identify six more women who said they&#39;d been assaulted, raped, or forced to expose themselves to Holtzclaw while he was on duty.</p><p>Holtzclaw&#39;s "mistake" &mdash; the slip-up that prosecutors said landed him in orange jail scrubs in an unremarkable fluorescent-lit courtroom on Wednesday &mdash; was believing J.L. was similar to his other alleged victims: all black middle-aged women, but women of a lower social status and with reason to fear the authorities. They had been caught with active warrants or drug paraphernalia. J.L., Davis said, had no criminal record to be held over her. She was driving through the neighborhood where the other women were confronted, but she didn&#39;t live there.</p><p>"He&#39;s stepping out," Assistant District Attorney Gayland Gieger said Wednesday. "He&#39;s getting bolder."</p><p>J.L.&#39;s report would put Holtzclaw on administrative leave and make up two of the state&#39;s 16 charges against the young cop. But more broadly, it would launch a case that underscores how alleged police abuse of minorities goes far beyond Ferguson, Missouri &mdash; but how national attention does not.</p>
<p><img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-09/5/13/enhanced/webdr07/enhanced-mid-29859-1409937199-5.jpg" width="720" height="464" alt="" /></p>
<p>In this Sept. 29, 2007, file photo, Eastern Michigan linebacker Daniel Holtzclaw (right) brings down Vanderbilt tailback Cassen Jackson-Garrison (22) in the first quarter of a college football game in Nashville.</p>
<p><small>AP / Mark Humphrey</small></p>
<p>Daniel Holtzclaw "vehemently denies each and every" charge brought against him, his lawyer said in a statement Saturday. Holtzclaw didn&#39;t speak at Wednesday&#39;s hearing. He would occasionally whisper to his attorneys, but his expression remained unreadable as he intently watched the witnesses &mdash; among them his father, a childhood friend who lived with Holtzclaw while he was at the police academy, and a sports reporter. Many more family members and friends sat in the front rows of the courtroom, including Holtzclaw&#39;s girlfriend of six months, his defense attorney Scott Adams said.</p><p>Holtzclaw joined the Oklahoma City Police Department in September 2011, officials said in a press conference after his arrest. A year earlier, he had graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a criminal justice degree and had tried and failed to get drafted into the NFL.</p><p>Holtzclaw today looks the same award-winning linebacker he did then: 6-foot-2, 260 pounds, tree-trunk neck, short black hair. When he was arrested, it was outside his gym.</p><p>Holtzclaw&#39;s father, Eric, is a 17-year veteran of the Enid Police Department. His mother, Kumiko, is unemployed but does some baking from their home, Eric Holtzclaw said. He has two sisters. One of them, Jenny, has been leading the movement to raise support for him online, selling shirts that say <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1509057449330490/photos/pb.1509057449330490.-2207520000.1409932434./1512817675621134/?type=1&amp;theater">"Free the Claw"</a> &mdash; his nickname.</p><p>Recently, on the Justice for Daniel Holtzclaw <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Daniel-Holtzclaw/1509057449330490?ref=br_tf">Facebook page</a> she created, Jenny posted a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1509057449330490/photos/pb.1509057449330490.-2207520000.1409937972./1514042598831975/?type=1&amp;theater">message</a> her father sent her after he passed a Coke machine at work and saw two bottles with their names &mdash; Daniel and Eric &mdash; side by side. He saw this as a "sign from god" and bought them. "I am determined to help him through these tough [times] for he is my son and I love him dearly&#33;&#33;&#33;"</p><p>In a statement, the Holtzclaw family said much of the "witness and officer testimony presented by the prosecution &hellip; is based on solicited testimony by the police department of felons, prostitutes and others who would have personal motives beyond the basic truth to fabricate their stories."</p><p>"We ask the public to wait to cast judgment on Daniel as he is entitled to the same rights under the law as any other citizen," the family said.</p>
<p><img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-09/5/13/enhanced/webdr10/longform-9644-1409937432-1.jpg" width="300" height="368" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>AP / Sue Ogrocki</small></p>
<p>In May, a woman known as T.M. approached a group of officers and reported that an unknown officer had sexually assaulted her, Detective Rocky Gregory testified Wednesday.</p><p>Gregory said T.M. &mdash; an "admitted drug user, prostitute" &mdash; was at an apartment complex "kind of known for drugs," around 9 p.m. on May 8. She left on foot but was stopped by Holtzclaw, whom she&#39;d allegedly seen at the complex earlier that night.</p><p>Holtzclaw put her in the backseat of his patrol car and took her purse, Gregory said. He drove for about two blocks before stopping to check her name for existing warrants. He then went through her purse and allegedly found a crack pipe.</p><p>"What are we gonna do about this?" Holtzclaw asked, according to Gregory.</p><p>"She says, &#39;Why don&#39;t you just stomp out the pipe, we&#39;ll call it good?&#39;" Gregory said. T.M. was still sitting in the backseat, she said, when Holtzclaw got out of the car and exposed his erect penis to her.</p><p>"He&#39;s made it very clear it&#39;s basically this or jail," Gregory said. "She then turns her head, places her mouth on his penis, and performs oral sex for a short period of time."</p><p>Holtzclaw did not ejaculate, Gregory said, but he stopped after about two minutes. He offered to give her a ride, but she said no.</p><p>"He says, &#39;No, I want to make sure that you&#39;re safe,&#39;" Gregory said. "He was supposed to take her to another location to let her go, but then he goes almost in the exact opposite direction, kind of zigzags through the neighborhood ... And then he starts to pull off by an open-field park area. Once he stopped there, she got real worried. She started to scream, thinking that this is not where it&#39;s gonna end."</p><p>But then Holtzclaw drove back around again, taking her to the place she originally wanted to go and letting her out. Later, T.M. showed Gregory in person the route they went. Gregory then referenced the route with Holtzclaw&#39;s automated vehicle locator, a GPS recorder on all patrol cars. It was an exact match, he said.</p><p>After connecting T.M. and J.L.&#39;s reports, the Sex Crimes Unit began looking through Holtzclaw&#39;s automatically recorded history of running names through the department&#39;s two databases, looking specifically for people who&#39;d been checked out multiple times. (One system shows information including someone&#39;s arrest record, what kind of contact they&#39;ve had with police, whether they&#39;ve reported a crime, and their address. The other system is used to check for existing warrants.)</p><p>Davis and Gregory took two lists of names &mdash; created by the unit&#39;s lieutenant through a victimology profile &mdash; into northeast Oklahoma City, telling each woman on the list that they had received a tip that she may have been sexually assaulted. An undisclosed "percentage" of the women said yes. By the end of the investigation, six more women joined T.M. &mdash; who initially did not want to prosecute &mdash; and J.L.</p><p>"They all matched up basically in age," Gregory said. "The earliest one was probably in her thirties. The oldest in the fifties. They all kind of looked like they were in their fifties."</p><p>They were all black women &mdash; a majority, he added, had "some kind of drug history, maybe a prostitution history."</p><p>By allegedly focusing on poor black women with criminal records, Holtzclaw kept himself from being caught &mdash; until he met J.L., a black woman who was just passing through the neighborhood he patrolled. "Not only is this individual stopping women who fit a profile of members of our society who are confronted rightly or wrongly by police officers all the time," said the prosecutor, Gieger. "He identifies a vulnerable society that without exception except one have an attitude for &#39;What good is it gonna do? He&#39;s a police officer. Who&#39;s going to believe me?&#39;"</p><p>There was T.B., a woman who said she was confronted by Holtzclaw while sitting in a parked car in front of her house on Feb. 27, 2014. He ran her name and found existing warrants, Gregory said. He began asking her about drugs in the house and brought up the warrants, telling T.B. he could place her under arrest. He told her he needed to "check her for any drugs," Gregory said.</p><p>"He then tells her to lift her shirt. He lifts her shirt to her belly, says, &#39;Now I need to see everything.&#39; He then makes reference about the warrants and the arrest ... She just goes ahead and lifts her bra and shirt according to what he requested."</p><p>Oklahoma City Police Department policy is to call a female officer over to do a complete search when the suspect is required to lift her shirt above her belly. T.B. had been stopped before and knew that was the procedure, Gregory said. But according to court documents, Holtzclaw touched her bare breasts with his hand and without her consent.</p><p>Through Holtzclaw&#39;s car GPS record, Gregory confirmed that the officer returned to T.B.&#39;s house multiple times over the following month. In one instance, Holtzclaw allegedly broke into the house without permission, woke T.B.&#39;s sleeping boyfriend &mdash; the only person in the house at the time &mdash; and told him to go outside, running his name for warrants.</p><p>Shortly afterward, T.B. pulled up to the house with her kids in the car, Gregory said, and Holtzclaw told her to step back to his patrol car.</p><p>He repeated the same motions, Gregory said &mdash; running her name for warrants, asking about drugs, and making "reference to, you know, &#39;We can kind of take care of these warrants ... Just play by my rules.&#39;"</p><p>T.B. said she knew Holtzclaw meant that she could "do sexual favors and the warrants could probably disappear," according to Gregory.</p><p>Holtzclaw told T.B. to lift her shirt again, and T.B. complied, though "it was obvious she did not have a bra on," Gregory said. Then he looked down her pants; she said she didn&#39;t have any underwear on, according to Gregory.</p><p>T.B.&#39;s boyfriend, Terry Williams, testified on Wednesday that Holtzclaw woke him up and "ran me outside," though he couldn&#39;t recall many specific details &mdash; he was "kind of tipsy that day," he said. But when T.B. later told him about her interactions with Holtzclaw, Williams "got kinda mad, and I just told her just to handle it the best way she can."</p><p>"Afterwards, [Holtzclaw] told [Williams], &#39;If I ever see you in this neighborhood or around this area, I&#39;m gonna stop you every time,&#39;" Gregory said. "He made it very clear he was not welcome around there, at this woman&#39;s house."</p><p>The next day, around dinnertime, Gregory said, T.B. saw Holtzclaw walking up to her house. She still didn&#39;t know the officer&#39;s name; she called him "Spike," because of his hair. "She knew that she was gonna be harassed by him again," Gregory said, and started to call her mother. Holtzclaw knocked at the door, and T.B. answered.</p><p>"She says, &#39;I&#39;m making dinner for my kids,&#39;" Gregory said. "He asked to come in. She tells him, &#39;No, you can&#39;t.&#39; He says, &#39;Well, I need to check your house for drugs.&#39;" They argued, and Holtzclaw told her that he would be back, according to Gregory, while T.B.&#39;s mother listened on from the phone. T.B.&#39;s mother later allegedly told the detective she could hear Holtzclaw "bullying her daughter."</p><p>T.B.&#39;s allegations make up five of the 16 counts against Holtzclaw, including sexual battery, burglary, two counts of indecent exposure, and stalking.</p>
<p><img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-09/5/13/enhanced/webdr10/enhanced-mid-5012-1409937621-23.jpg" width="720" height="628" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>AP Photo/Oklahoma Police Dept.</small></p>
nonadultnonadultnonadultIn this Sept. 29, 2007, file photo, Eastern Michigan linebacker Daniel Holtzclaw (right) brings down Vanderbilt tailback Cassen Jackson-Garrison (22) in the first quarter of a college football game in Nashville.nonadultTerry Richardson Now Has A VMAhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/terry-richardson-might-take-home-a-vma-tonight
Richardson — as famous for his glossy celebrity portraits as for his alleged sexual misconduct with models — directed Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” Video of the Year.

Fashion photographer Terry Richardson was nominated in the Best Direction and Video of the Year categories at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards for Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball."

Richardson at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in March 2014.

Danny Moloshok / Reuters

Richardson began his career in the '90s with sexually explicit ads for edgy brands and editorials for indie magazines. But around 2010, women began coming forward with allegations that "Uncle Terry" coerced them into performing sexual acts during photo shoots.

Today, Richardson — who's never been charged with a crime but has settled lawsuits involving accusations of deceit surrounding his nude photography — is still being hired by major magazines, brands, and celebrities.

"Wrecking Ball" was a huge success, bringing in 19.3 million views within 24 hours of its September 2013 release.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/terry-richardson-might-take-home-a-vma-tonightSun, 24 Aug 2014 21:46:53 -0400<b>Richardson &mdash; as famous for his glossy celebrity portraits as for his alleged sexual misconduct with models &mdash; directed Miley Cyrus&#39; "Wrecking Ball," Video of the Year.</b>jtesnonadult<small>Richardson at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in March 2014.</small>nonadult"Wrecking Ball" won Video of the Year, but it lost Best Direction to DJ Snake &amp; Lil Jon&#39;s "Turn Down For What."nonadultRichardson began his career in the '90s with sexually explicit ads for edgy brands and editorials for indie magazines. But around 2010, women <a href="http://www.styleite.com/features/a-horrifying-timeline-of-terry-richardson-allegations-from-trash-cans-to-tampon-tea/">began coming forward</a> with allegations that "Uncle Terry" coerced them into performing sexual acts during photo shoots.
Today, Richardson &mdash; who&#39;s never been charged with a crime but has <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/here-are-the-lawsuits-filed-against-terry-richardson-9-years">settled lawsuits</a> involving accusations of deceit surrounding his nude photography &mdash; is still being hired by major magazines, brands, and celebrities.nonadultnonadultThat record was only beaten <a href="https://music.yahoo.com/blogs/music-news/nicki-minaj-s--anaconda--video-beats-miley-cyrus---wrecking-ball--record-160902224.html">last week</a> by Nicki Minaj's <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/nicki-minaj-anaconda-video#4ceghul">"Anaconda."</a>
In addition to Cyrus&#39; "Wrecking Ball," Richardson has directed music videos for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xUfCUFPL-8">Beyonc&eacute;</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoCqCrH8aBM">Sky Ferreira</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuijXg8wm28">Taylor Swift</a>. But Lady Gaga, who released a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008SLAXGO/?tag=buzz0f-20">book</a> with Richardson in 2011, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/naomizeichner/here-is-the-terry-richardson-directed-do-what-u-want-video-l#4ceghul">reportedly canceled</a> the release of a video he directed for her and R. Kelly&#39;s "Do What U Want," after <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/azafar/r-kellys-alleged-sexual-assaults-and-why-no-ones-talking-abo#4ceghul">old accusations</a> resurfaced against Kelly in December and <a href="http://www.vocativ.com/underworld/sex/oh-god-whats-happening-close-personal-terry-richardson-model/">new allegations</a> emerged against Richardson in the spring. (A Richardson-directed documentary Gaga <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1481250/lady-gaga-announces-terry-richardson-documentary-on-twitter">announced</a> in December 2012 also has yet to materialize.)nonadultnonadultShe posted photos of them on Instagram in late June &mdash; the same month <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/06/terry-richardson-interview.html"><i>New York</i> magazine</a> published a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/one-model-responds-to-terry-richardsons-defense-of-himself">controversial</a> profile of Richardson, <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2014/06/19/lady-gaga-music-video-sexual-assault-do-what-u-want/">TMZ</a> leaked clips from Gaga's scrapped video, and <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/aldo-cuts-ties-with-terry-richardson">Aldo Shoes</a> told BuzzFeed it was <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/buzzfeed-asks-25-fashion-companies-will-you-still-work-with">no longer working</a> with the photographer, joining H&amp;M, Target, <i>Vogue</i>, and others.nonadultnonadultIn the Video of the Year category, "Wrecking Ball" beat out Beyonc&eacute;'s "Drunk In Love," Iggy Azalea&#39;s "Fancy," Pharrell&#39;s "Happy," and Sia&#39;s "Chandelier."
In the Best Direction category, it lost to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMUDVMiITOU">"Turn Down For What"</a> by DJ Snake &amp; Lil Jon, directed by The Daniels.nonadultAnd not just because he <a href="http://terrysdiary.com/">appears to be</a> (NSFW) spending time in Roswell, New Mexico, photographing alien-themed decor and his topless <a href="http://jezebel.com/everything-wrong-with-new-york-magazines-terry-richards-1591383157">girlfriend/assistant</a>.
Directors aren't traditionally featured at the VMAs &mdash; even those as deeply ingrained in celebrity culture as Richardson.nonadultnonadultFinchernonadultJonzenonadultBefore he directed his first feature film (<i>Alien 3</i>), Fincher won VMAs for Madonna's "Vogue" (1989) and "Express Yourself" (1990). He went on to direct <i>Fight Club</i>, <i>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</i>, and <i>The Social Network</i>, as well as win another VMA for Justin Timberlake and Jay Z&#39;s "Suit &amp; Tie" last year.
Jonze won a VMA in 1995 for directing Weezer&#39;s "Buddy Holly." In 1999, the same year he directed <i>Being John Malkovich</i>, Jonze won his second VMA for Fatboy Slim&#39;s "Weapon of Choice." He later directed <i>Adaptation</i>, <i>Where the Wild Things Are</i>, and <i>Her</i>.
Richardson also has feature-film aspirations &mdash; according to <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/06/terry-richardson-interview.html"><i>New York</i></a>, he&#39;s "preparing to make his first film, about [Los Angeles&#39;] early-1980s punk scene."nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultISIS Appears To Behead American Photojournalist In YouTube Videohttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/isis-appears-to-behead-american-photojournalist-in-youtube-v
Updated: Family grieved Tuesday for James Wright Foley, who was kidnapped in November 2012 in Syria. In the video, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, indicates the killing is a response to recent American operations in Iraq.

"A Message to America," a video uploaded Tuesday to YouTube, begins with a clip of President Obama announcing his recent authorization of targeted airstrikes and a humanitarian operation in Iraq. Then, around the two-minute mark, a man believed to be James Wright Foley, 40, delivers a statement:

"I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers: the U.S. government," he says, before specifically addressing his brother John, a member of the U.S. Air Force. (A full transcript of his last words was posted online by the blogger Brown Moses and can be found here.)

About two minutes and 20 seconds later, the man is apparently beheaded. His executioner, whose face is covered, has what sounds like a British accent and threatens that "any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people."

Shortly after the video was posted, two people who know Foley said the man in the video appears to be him, and that the voice sounds like his. Later on Tuesday, his mother Diane Foley begged his kidnappers to spare the lives of other hostages.

"We have never been prouder of our son Jim," she wrote. "He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people."

The FBI is "in the process of evaluating the video posted by the Islamic State to determine if it is authentic," GlobalPost CEO Philip Balboni said in a statement. Foley and his translator were working for GlobalPost in Binesh, Syria, when they were taken.

The propaganda video ends with a shot of another kneeling man in orange, believed to be missing journalist Steven Sotloff. "The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision," the executioner says.

While on Air Force One, the president was briefed by Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes on a recently released video by ISIS. The president will continue to receive regular updates, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said.

A version of the clip viewed by BuzzFeed was removed from YouTube after about 20 minutes, though others have been uploaded since.

"YouTube has clear policies that prohibit content like gratuitous violence, hate speech and incitement to commit violent acts, and we remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users," a spokesperson for YouTube said. "We also terminate any account registered by a member of a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and used in an official capacity to further its interests."

"We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of U.S. citizen James Foley by ISIS," said NSC spokesperson Caitlin Hayden. "The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We will provide more information when it is available."

GlobalPost also revealed Tuesday evening it had launched "an extensive international investigation" into Foley's whereabouts shortly after his kidnapping.

"Although GlobalPost's investigation at one point led us to believe that James was being held by the Syrian government, we later were given strong reason to believe he was being held by Islamic militants in Syria," Balboni said in his statement. "We withheld this information at the request of the family and on the advice of authorities cooperating in the effort to protect Jim. GlobalPost, working with a private security company, has amassed an enormous amount of information that has not been made public."

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/isis-appears-to-behead-american-photojournalist-in-youtube-vTue, 19 Aug 2014 18:11:59 -0400<b>Updated: Family grieved Tuesday for James Wright Foley, who was kidnapped in November 2012 in Syria.</b> In the video, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, indicates the killing is a response to recent American operations in Iraq.jtesnonadultnonadult"A Message to America," a video uploaded Tuesday to YouTube, begins with a clip of President Obama announcing his recent authorization of targeted airstrikes and a humanitarian operation in Iraq. Then, around the two-minute mark, a man believed to be James Wright Foley, 40, delivers a statement:
"I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers: the U.S. government," he says, before specifically addressing his brother John, a member of the U.S. Air Force. (A full transcript of his last words was posted online by the blogger Brown Moses and can be found <a href="http://pastebin.com/yjYChv13">here</a>.)
About two minutes and 20 seconds later, the man is apparently beheaded. His executioner, whose face is covered, has what sounds like a British accent and threatens that "any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people."
Shortly after the video was posted, two people who know Foley said the man in the video appears to be him, and that the voice sounds like his. Later on Tuesday, his mother Diane Foley begged his kidnappers to spare the lives of other hostages.
"We have never been prouder of our son Jim," she wrote. "He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people."
The FBI is "in the process of evaluating the video posted by the Islamic State to determine if it is authentic," <i>GlobalPost</i> CEO Philip Balboni <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/140819/reported-beheading-james-foley-not-yet-verified">said in a statement</a>. Foley and his translator were working for <i>GlobalPost</i> in Binesh, Syria, when they were taken.
The propaganda video ends with a shot of <a href="https://twitter.com/mpoppel/status/501834910894551041">another kneeling man in orange</a>, believed to be missing journalist Steven Sotloff. "The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision," the executioner says.
While on Air Force One, the president was briefed by Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes on a recently released video by ISIS. The president will continue to receive regular updates, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said.
A version of the clip viewed by BuzzFeed was removed from YouTube after about 20 minutes, though others have been uploaded since.
"YouTube has clear policies that prohibit content like gratuitous violence, hate speech and incitement to commit violent acts, and we remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users," a spokesperson for YouTube said. "We also terminate any account registered by a member of a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and used in an official capacity to further its interests."
"We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of U.S. citizen James Foley by ISIS," said NSC spokesperson Caitlin Hayden. "The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We will provide more information when it is available."
<i>GlobalPost</i> also revealed Tuesday evening it had launched "an extensive international investigation" into Foley's whereabouts shortly after his kidnapping.
"Although <i>GlobalPost</i>&#39;s investigation at one point led us to believe that James was being held by the Syrian government, we later were given strong reason to believe he was being held by Islamic militants in Syria," Balboni said in his statement. "We withheld this information at the request of the family and on the advice of authorities cooperating in the effort to protect Jim. <i>GlobalPost</i>, working with a private security company, has amassed an enormous amount of information that has not been made public."nonadult<small><a href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/james-wright-foley
">James Wright Foley in 2012</a></small>nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src=""><a class="screen-name url"><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/447056705172815872/CHjESb4p_normal.jpeg">Kelly Foley@ke11yfoley</a><a class="follow">Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">Life is the most precious thing and its unfathomable how quickly it can be taken away. I love you James Foley. Rest peacefully; you're free.</p><a class="view-details">12:39 AM - 20 Aug 14</a><a class="reply-action twt-intent">Reply</a><a class="retweet-action twt-intent">Retweet</a><a class="favorite-action twt-intent">Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src=""><a class="screen-name url"><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/447056705172815872/CHjESb4p_normal.jpeg">Kelly Foley@ke11yfoley</a><a class="follow">Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">Please honor James Foley and respect my family's privacy. Don't watch the video. Don't share it. That's not how life should be.</p><a class="view-details">4:43 PM - 19 Aug 14</a><a class="reply-action twt-intent">Reply</a><a class="retweet-action twt-intent">Retweet</a><a class="favorite-action twt-intent">Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadult<blockquote>Our Medill family is shocked and deeply saddened by the news of the murder of Jim Foley. He was a courageous reporter who risked his life repeatedly to seek the truth around the world.
Journalists face threats in many forms as they try to report difficult stories that need to be told, but the attack on Jim was barbaric. It was, in a larger sense, an attack on freedoms necessary in a civilized society and across strained cultures. Jim endures for us as a beacon reminding us of the risks implicit in shedding light where inhumanity can take hold.
Our thoughts today are with Jim's parents, Diane and John, and the entire Foley family and their friends. We ask that all Medill and Northwestern students, faculty, staff and alumni join us in remembrance of Jim Foley. The loss of such a distinguished alum affects us all.</blockquote>nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultKirsten Gillibrand, Pushing New College Sexual Assault Bill, Still Has Hope For Failed Military Reformhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/kirsten-gillibrand-pushing-new-college-sexual-assault-bill-s
“We just need more data.” The Democratic senator’s potential second crack at changing sexual assault

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand still believes she can convince the last several senators who voted against her sweeping and controversial effort to change the way the military prosecutes sexual assault.

The New York Democrat's bill that would take the prosecution of sexual assault cases outside the military failed 55-45 in March, a surprisingly narrow defeat. In an interview with BuzzFeed, the New York Democrat said Wednesday she thinks she can "win over the last few senators" with a new, shifted approach.

Gillibrand has requested the raw data for all sexual assaults from "the four major bases, one for each of the services." Instead of focusing on the nine out of 10 service members who don't report assaults, Gillibrand wants to focus on the one in 10 who do. She believes looking at that smaller set of people will demonstrate the discrepancies in what the military says publicly on the topic.

"We just need more data," Gillibrand said.

When that data will be available is less clear: The request was made five months ago. It took four years for a similar request made by the Associated Press for the statistics on sexual assault on just one base in Japan to be completed, Gillibrand said. That report revealed that of nearly 500 sex crime allegations, only 24% went to courts-martial at that base.

"When a survivor speaks out and tells what happened to him or her, that is overwhelmingly persuasive," she said. "When we get that data, we will be able to assess it and say 'This is what the cases look like when they're reported ... This picture is not pretty either. This is a picture of justice not served.'"

In the interim, Gillibrand has launched a second initiative into addressing how college campuses deal with sexual assault with a bipartisan group of senators, including fellow Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, whose competing military reform bill passed unanimously in the Senate just days after Gillibrand's failed.

Gillibrand has proposed a handful of new policies and penalties for colleges. On Wednesday, she elaborated on one of the bill's key pieces: an anonymous survey filled out by sexual assault victims that would be sent to the Department of Education and published for the world — and prospective college students and parents — to see.

Gillibrand said schools wouldn't be able to touch the survey information. Currently, schools oversee Clery Act reporting, submitting their own number of annual sex crimes — a process many argue gives schools an incentive to make cases disappear. Gillibrand is aiming to remove the school as middle-man and introduce a higher standard of transparency into the process.

"Now, because the climate of the school is going to be public, their incentive is to clean it up, actually fix the problem," Gillibrand said — which may cause the most headaches for colleges under the proposed bill. There will be no easy, standardized fix; what contributes to a dangerous climate, Gillibrand said, is not necessarily the same thing at any two campuses. While discussing these potential factors, she actually brought up an example from her personal life:

"When I was freshman at Dartmouth, I received a note in my mailbox the first week as to where I was rated in my class in terms of how good looking I was — that sets a climate," she said. "I was a very young freshman and I didn't care and I just disregarded it, but that could undermine peoples' feeling of safety — that on their first day they're being objectified. That is not a great feeling for a young student."

Gillibrand also emphasized her proposed requirement that schools hire confidential advisers to thoroughly explain victims' reporting options to them — and addressed one notably absent aspect: standardized sanctions for perpetrators found to be guilty by their colleges. Punishments for those students currently range from book reports to expulsion.

While the senator said she personally supported a minimum penalty for those adjudicated as responsible and didn't rule it out for the future, the senators "didn't have consensus on it" prior to the bill's introduction.

Gillibrand's core pursuit, however, is creating incentives for institutions to be transparent about their internal climates of sexual violence.

"They have to assess, 'What are the risks in my school? What's causing these negative climates? Is it alcohol-infused? Is it sports-team infused? Is it a certain class of students feeling above the rules?'" she said. "That's their job, or they're going to get bad press."

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/kirsten-gillibrand-pushing-new-college-sexual-assault-bill-sFri, 15 Aug 2014 12:14:31 -0400<b>"We just need more data."</b> The Democratic senator&#39;s potential second crack at changing sexual assaultjtesnonadultnonadultSen. Kirsten Gillibrand still believes she can convince the last several senators who voted against her sweeping and controversial effort to change the way the military prosecutes sexual assault.
The New York Democrat's bill that would take the prosecution of sexual assault cases outside the military failed 55-45 in March, a surprisingly narrow defeat. In an interview with BuzzFeed, the New York Democrat said Wednesday she thinks she can "win over the last few senators" with a new, shifted approach.
Gillibrand has requested the raw data for all sexual assaults from "the four major bases, one for each of the services." Instead of focusing on the nine out of 10 service members who don&#39;t report assaults, Gillibrand wants to focus on the one in 10 who do. She believes looking at that smaller set of people will demonstrate the discrepancies in what the military says publicly on the topic.
"We just need more data," Gillibrand said.
When that data will be available is less clear: The request was made five months ago. It took four years for a similar request made by the <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/documents-reveal-chaotic-military-sex-abuse-record-1">Associated Press</a> for the statistics on sexual assault on just one base in Japan to be completed, Gillibrand said. That report revealed that of nearly 500 sex crime allegations, only 24% went to courts-martial at that base.
"When a survivor speaks out and tells what happened to him or her, that is overwhelmingly persuasive," she said. "When we get that data, we will be able to assess it and say &#39;This is what the cases look like when they&#39;re reported ... This picture is not pretty either. This is a picture of justice not served.&#39;"
In the interim, Gillibrand has launched a second initiative into addressing how college campuses deal with sexual assault with a bipartisan group of senators, including fellow Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, whose competing military reform bill <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/claire-mccaskill-military-sexual-assault-bill-104499.html">passed unanimously</a> in the Senate just days after Gillibrand&#39;s failed.
Gillibrand has proposed a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/bipartisan-bill-takes-aim-at-sexual-assault-on-campuses">handful of new policies and penalties</a> for colleges. On Wednesday, she elaborated on one of the bill&#39;s key pieces: an anonymous survey filled out by sexual assault victims that would be sent to the Department of Education and published for the world &mdash; and prospective college students and parents &mdash; to see.
Gillibrand said schools wouldn&#39;t be able to touch the survey information. Currently, schools oversee Clery Act reporting, submitting their own number of annual sex crimes &mdash; a process many argue gives schools an incentive to make cases disappear. Gillibrand is aiming to remove the school as middle-man and introduce a higher standard of transparency into the process.
"Now, because the climate of the school is going to be public, their incentive is to clean it up, actually fix the problem," Gillibrand said &mdash; which may cause the most headaches for colleges under the proposed bill. There will be no easy, standardized fix; what contributes to a dangerous climate, Gillibrand said, is not necessarily the same thing at any two campuses. While discussing these potential factors, she actually brought up an example from her personal life:
"When I was freshman at Dartmouth, I received a note in my mailbox the first week as to where I was rated in my class in terms of how good looking I was &mdash; that sets a climate," she said. "I was a very young freshman and I didn&#39;t care and I just disregarded it, but that could undermine peoples&#39; feeling of safety &mdash; that on their first day they&#39;re being objectified. That is not a great feeling for a young student."
Gillibrand also emphasized her proposed requirement that schools hire confidential advisers to thoroughly explain victims&#39; reporting options to them &mdash; and addressed one notably absent aspect: standardized sanctions for perpetrators found to be guilty by their colleges. Punishments for those students currently range from book reports to expulsion.
While the senator said she personally supported a minimum penalty for those adjudicated as responsible and didn&#39;t rule it out for the future, the senators "didn&#39;t have consensus on it" prior to the bill&#39;s introduction.
Gillibrand&#39;s core pursuit, however, is creating incentives for institutions to be transparent about their internal climates of sexual violence.
"They have to assess, &#39;What are the risks in <i>my</i> school? What&#39;s causing these negative climates? Is it alcohol-infused? Is it sports-team infused? Is it a certain class of students feeling above the rules?&#39;" she said. "That&#39;s their job, or they&#39;re going to get bad press."nonadultConvicted Steubenville Rapist Returns To School Football Teamhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/convicted-steubenville-rapist-returns-to-school-football-tea
Earlier this year, Ma’Lik Richmond was released from detention nearly three months early. Now he’s back on the field.

Ma'Lik Richmond, the Steubenville High School wide receiver found delinquent of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl in 2012 with quarterback Trent Mays, has returned to his team roster as a senior, local station WTRF reported Monday.

"I wanted to be shocked, but I think we all knew it was bound to happen," Alexandria Goddard said in an email to BuzzFeed. Goddard is the writerwidelycredited with bringing national attention to the rape by exposing students' tweets documenting and discussing the attack.

In March 2013, Richmond was sentenced to one year in a juvenile detention facility but was released in January 2014; Mays was sentenced to two years and is still under detention. Their classification — Ohio's Tier II — requires Richmond and Mays to register as sex offenders every 180 days for 20 years.

Richmond, now 18, has attempted to appeal his status without success. Trials are still ongoing for school officials indicted in connection to the case.

"Steubenville City Schools hasn't really done a lot in the past two years to prove to the world that they don't tolerate rape culture and allowing a Tier II registered sex offender on the team pretty much solidifies the assumption that they are concerned about wins rather than the safety of young girls or the destruction of rape culture in their area," Goddard continued.

When Richmond was released from detention, his attorney said he was "a better, stronger person and looks forward to school, life, and spending time with family." At the time, an attorney for the victim called the statement's failure to acknowledge the girl or her family "disheartening."

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/convicted-steubenville-rapist-returns-to-school-football-teaMon, 11 Aug 2014 18:21:56 -0400<b>Earlier this year, Ma&#39;Lik Richmond was released from detention nearly three months early.</b> Now he&#39;s back on the field.jtesnonadultnonadultMa'Lik Richmond, the Steubenville High School wide receiver <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/hunterschwarz/judge-finds-high-school-football-players-guilty-of-rape">found delinquent</a> of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl in 2012 with quarterback Trent Mays, has returned to his team roster as a <a href="http://www.rollredroll.com/18.html">senior</a>, local station <a href="http://www.wtrf.com/story/26248983/teen-convicted-in-steubenville-rape-back-on-football-roster">WTRF</a> reported Monday.
"I wanted to be shocked, but I think we all knew it was bound to happen," Alexandria Goddard said in an email to BuzzFeed. Goddard is the <a href="http://www.xojane.com/issues/steubenville-rape-verdict-alexandria-goddard">writer</a> <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/how-blogger-helped-steubenville-rape-case-unfold-online/">widely</a> <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/05/trial-by-twitter">credited</a> with bringing national attention to the rape by <a href="http://prinniefied.com/wp/steubenville-gang-rape-case/">exposing</a> students&#39; tweets documenting and discussing the attack.
In March 2013, Richmond was sentenced to one year in a juvenile detention facility but was <a href="http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/10250344/malik-richmond-released-less-year-rape-conviction-steubenville-ohio">released in January 2014</a>; Mays was sentenced to two years and is still under detention. Their classification &mdash; Ohio&#39;s <a href="http://www.opd.ohio.gov/AWA_Information/AWA_2009GuideOhioSORNLaws.pdf">Tier II</a> &mdash; requires Richmond and Mays to register as sex offenders every 180 days for 20 years.
Richmond, now 18, has <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sex-offender-status-upheld-in-steubenville-teen-rape-case/">attempted</a> to appeal his status without success. Trials are <a href="http://www.wtrf.com/story/26014012/trial-begins-in-october-for-superintendent-indicted-by-grand-jury-investigating-steubenville-rape-case">still ongoing</a> for school officials indicted in connection to the case.
"Steubenville City Schools hasn&#39;t really done a lot in the past two years to prove to the world that they don&#39;t tolerate rape culture and allowing a Tier II registered sex offender on the team pretty much solidifies the assumption that they are concerned about wins rather than the safety of young girls or the destruction of rape culture in their area," Goddard continued.
When Richmond was released from detention, <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ohio-high-school-rape-convict-released">his attorney said</a> he was "a better, stronger person and looks forward to school, life, and spending time with family." At the time, an attorney for the victim called the statement&#39;s failure to acknowledge the girl or her family "disheartening."nonadultWhile Steubenville&#39;s football coach didn&#39;t respond to BuzzFeed&#39;s request for comment, he did speak to <a href="http://www.myfox28columbus.com//news/features/featured/stories/teen-convicted-steubenville-rape-case-back-team-8122.shtml#.U-uAs4BdXkj">Fox 28</a> about the decision.
"Everything the judicial system of Ohio asked him to do he completed. Everything that the school system asked him to do upon his release he completed, both academically and socially," Reno Saccoccia said. "I feel that we&#39;re really not giving him a second chance. Some may look at it like that. I feel that he&#39;s earned a second chance."nonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Buw_Z-ICUAAqTvz.jpg"><a class="screen-name url"><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1716321810/legends_normal.JPG">Mike Anthony@MAnthonyWTRF</a><a class="follow">Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">Senior Ma'lik Richmond returns to the Big Red lineup in a deep corp of WRs/LBs#RollRedRoll</p><a class="view-details">10:48 AM - 11 Aug 14</a><a class="reply-action twt-intent">Reply</a><a class="retweet-action twt-intent">Retweet</a><a class="favorite-action twt-intent">Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadultThe "House Of Cards"-"Veep" Mashup That No One Really Asked Forhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/the-house-of-cards-veep-mashup-that-no-one-really-asked-for
Ever wonder what would happen if Frank Underwood and Selina Meyer swapped bodies?

House of Cards' Frank Underwood and Veep's Selena Meyer are both on Entertainment Weekly'slist of the "25 Best Characters on TV Right Now," to be released this week — though fans of the characters know that's not the onlything they have in common.

Watching these two characters interact would be a delight. Watching them undergo a bizarre body swap? Hello, nightmares.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/the-house-of-cards-veep-mashup-that-no-one-really-asked-forWed, 06 Aug 2014 15:35:28 -0400<b>Ever wonder what would happen if Frank Underwood and Selina Meyer swapped bodies?</b>jtesnonadult<i>House of Cards'</i> Frank Underwood and <i>Veep&#39;s</i> Selena Meyer are both on <i><a href="http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/08/06/this-weeks-cover-25-best-characters/?hootPostID=f566d074539f4f470ce9d6b51bb361af">Entertainment Weekly&#39;s</a></i> <a href="http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/08/06/best-tv-character-poll/">list</a> of the "25 Best Characters on TV Right Now," to be released this week &mdash; though fans of the characters know that&#39;s not the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Y_vyMw4FI">only</a> <a href="http://prattlord.tumblr.com/post/88269673910">thing</a> they have in common.
Watching these two characters interact would be a delight. Watching them undergo a bizarre body swap? Hello, nightmares.nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultAt Least 25 Dead, More Than 250 Injured In Fiery Taiwan Gas Explosionshttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/at-least-15-dead-hundreds-reportedly-injured-in-fiery-taiwan
Five deadly blasts shook southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung late Thursday night.

UPDATED — Aug. 1, 2014 8:05 a.m. ET:

At least 25 people are dead and 267 injured after a series of five explosions in Taiwan's second-largest city, the Associated Press reported.

AP Photo/Wally Santana

The Kaohsiung explosions were apparently caused by gas leaks late Thursday night.

STRINGER/AFP / Getty Images

Four firefighters are reportedly among the dead.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/at-least-15-dead-hundreds-reportedly-injured-in-fiery-taiwanThu, 31 Jul 2014 17:37:27 -0400<b>Five deadly blasts shook southern Taiwan&#39;s Kaohsiung late Thursday night.</b>jtesnonadultUPDATED &mdash; Aug. 1, 2014 8:05 a.m. ET:nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadult<small>Rescue workers inspect a body.</small>nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadult<small>A policeman and the covered body of a victim.</small>nonadultnonadultnonadultConor Oberst Drops Lawsuit Against Woman Who Accused Him Of Rapehttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/conor-oberst-drops-lawsuit-against-woman-who-accused-him-of
The woman has apologized for bringing allegations against him on Tumblr and xoJane last year, acknowledging she “made up those lies about him.”

Oberst in New York City on March 8, 2011.

Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images

On Friday, lawyers for Conor Oberst filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in his lawsuit against Joanie Faircloth, a North Carolina woman who accused Oberst of sexually assaulting her a decade ago.

Oberst sued Faircloth for libel in February. In court, the Bright Eyes singer argued that the allegations cost him at least $700,000 in album and tour sales and publishing deals.

Last week, after months of making no attempt to defend herself against the suit, Faircloth apologized in a notarized statement.

"The statements I made and repeated online and elsewhere over the past six months accusing Conor Oberst of raping me are 100% false," Faircloth said. "I publicly retract my statements about Conor Oberst, and sincerely apologize to him, his family, and his fans for writing such awful things about him."

On Wednesday, Oberst released a statement from his tour in Europe, saying he accepted Faircloth's apology, but it wasn't clear whether he would continue pursing the lawsuit.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/conor-oberst-drops-lawsuit-against-woman-who-accused-him-ofMon, 21 Jul 2014 08:48:46 -0400<b>The woman has apologized for bringing allegations against him on Tumblr and <i>xoJane</i> last year, acknowledging she "made up those lies about him."</b>jtesnonadult<small>Oberst in New York City on March 8, 2011.</small>nonadultOn Friday, lawyers for Conor Oberst filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in his lawsuit against Joanie Faircloth, a North Carolina woman who <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/conor-oberst-responds-to-rape-allegations-left-by-anonymous">accused Oberst</a> of sexually assaulting her a decade ago.
Oberst <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/conor-oberst-sues-the-woman-who-accused-him-of-rape">sued</a> Faircloth for libel in February. In court, the Bright Eyes singer argued that the allegations cost him <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/tmz-wrong-about-conor-oberst">at least $700,000</a> in album and tour sales and publishing deals.
Last week, after months of making no attempt to defend herself against the suit, Faircloth apologized in a notarized statement.
"The statements I made and repeated online and elsewhere over the past six months accusing Conor Oberst of raping me are 100% false," <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/woman-who-accused-conor-oberst-of-rape-i-made-up-those-lies">Faircloth said</a>. "I publicly retract my statements about Conor Oberst, and sincerely apologize to him, his family, and his fans for writing such awful things about him."
On Wednesday, Oberst released a statement from his tour in Europe, saying he accepted Faircloth's apology, but it wasn&#39;t clear whether he would continue pursing the lawsuit.nonadultOberst&#39;s publicist confirmed Monday "that Conor had his lawyer ask the Judge to dismiss the complaint against Joanie Faircloth. Conor&#39;s only goal throughout these court proceedings has been to expose the truth. As per his statement of last week: he looks forward to moving on to happier times."nonadultnonadultThis Woman Has Been Confronting Her Catcallers — And Secretly Filming Their Reactionshttp://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/this-woman-has-been-confronting-her-catcallers-and-secretly
Earlier this summer, Lindsey began handing out cards to Minneapolis men, explaining what’s wrong with street harassment.

"'Bitch' means that you're sexy."

Several weeks ago, 28-year-old Minneapolis resident Lindsey was standing on an escalator when a stranger began touching her hair and calling her "blondie." When she told the man he "could just say 'hi' next time," she said, he began screaming at her and calling her ugly. The situation reminded Lindsey — a longtime confronter of catcallers, most notably in last year's Craigslist ad gone viral — that while she could control her reaction to street harassers, she couldn't always anticipate their reaction to being confronted.

It was then she had the idea for Cards Against Street Harassment: pocket-size cards women could download, print, and hand out to their catcallers, explaining why the attention was unwanted without even speaking.

"When you walk down the street do random strangers comment on how you look?" one card asks. "No? Wow. That must be nice."

Of course, Lindsey still engages with the men she encounters. But now, with the cards as her platform, she films the conversations as a "cathartic extra response," she told BuzzFeed.

"I am genuinely interested in what place this is coming from," said Lindsey, who asked to only be identified by her first name. Lindsey's tone in the videos is obviously confrontational, but also curious — never combative.

"The first time that I caught it, I was just on the phone with my sister and the guy interrupted my phone call and tried to hug me," she said.

]]>http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/this-woman-has-been-confronting-her-catcallers-and-secretlyFri, 18 Jul 2014 18:51:49 -0400<b>Earlier this summer, Lindsey began handing out cards to Minneapolis men, explaining what&#39;s wrong with street harassment.</b>jtesnonadult<small>"&#39;Bitch&#39; means that you&#39;re sexy."</small>nonadultSeveral weeks ago, 28-year-old Minneapolis resident Lindsey was standing on an escalator when a stranger began touching her hair and calling her "blondie." When she told the man he "could just say 'hi&#39; next time," she said, he began screaming at her and calling her ugly. The situation reminded Lindsey &mdash; a longtime confronter of catcallers, most notably in last year&#39;s <a href="http://jezebel.com/amazing-missed-connection-takes-down-street-harassing-d-1331082801">Craigslist ad gone viral</a> &mdash; that while she could control her reaction to street harassers, she couldn&#39;t always anticipate <i>their</i> reaction to being confronted.
It was then she had the idea for <a href="http://www.cardsagainstharassment.com">Cards Against Street Harassment</a>: pocket-size cards women could download, print, and hand out to their catcallers, explaining why the attention was unwanted without even speaking.
"When you walk down the street do random strangers comment on how you look?" one card asks. "No? Wow. That must be nice."nonadultnonadultOf course, Lindsey still engages with the men she encounters. But now, with the cards as her platform, she films the conversations as a "cathartic extra response," she told BuzzFeed.
"I am genuinely interested in what place this is coming from," said Lindsey, who asked to only be identified by her first name. Lindsey's tone in the videos is obviously confrontational, but also curious &mdash; never combative.
"The first time that I caught it, I was just on the phone with my sister and the guy interrupted my phone call and tried to hug me," she said.nonadultnonadultThe videos aren't meant to highlight specific dramatic confrontations, but the "cumulative daily impact" of street harassment, Lindsey said. Since she began filming, the "only interactions I haven&#39;t been able to capture are car honks."
In at least one of her videos, Lindsey discusses race with a catcaller &mdash; a man who claims she only became upset because he was a black man and she was a white woman. But Lindsey emphasized that she believes "harassers come from all races."
"Though I&#39;m filming as I&#39;m encountering experiences, I&#39;m in no way attempting to target a specific demographic," Lindsey said. "Sexism is sexism."nonadult<small>(Lindsey said she was dressed for work.)</small>nonadultThere's also "justice" in uploading the conversations to YouTube, she said: "The filming provides them a platform to embarrass themselves in a way that they&#39;ve already embarrassed me."
She&#39;s already been contacted by one frustrated man &mdash; the star of her "Minnesota Chicks Are Hot" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCbKtp-xtik">video</a>.
"The irony is not lost on me, that a man who gave me unwanted attention is now upset he may get unwanted attention."nonadultnonadultLindsey estimates she's distributed about 25&ndash;30 cards since creating them earlier this summer. She believes her method isn&#39;t for everyone or every situation, especially when personal safety is at risk. But for her, the experience has been an opportunity to tell a man something he may have never heard before.
"The theme I hear the most often is that they truly, genuinely think it&#39;s a compliment, and they are shocked," she said. "If that is true, then simply telling people it&#39;s not a compliment may go a long way."nonadultnonadultSee more from the project on <a href="http://www.cardsagainstharassment.com/stories.html">its website</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/CardsAgstHrsmt">Twitter</a>.nonadultAn earlier version of this story mischaracterized the conversation between Lindsey and one of her harassers.nonadult<i>YouTube temporarily removed one of the videos embedded in this post "as a violation of YouTube&#39;s policy on nudity or sexual content." Lindsey appealed the removal.
"With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it&#39;s brought to our attention that a video or channel has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it," a YouTube spokesperson later said in an email to BuzzFeed.</i>nonadult